Keith Newman (born 6 June 1954) is a New Zealand author, freelance writer and producer. He has had five non-fiction titles published dealing with historical subjects including Māori prophet

T. W. Ratana Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana (25 January 1873? – 18 September 1939) was the founder of the Rātana religion in the early 20th century in New Zealand. He rose to prominence as a faith healer. Beginnings Rātana was of the Ngati Apa and Ngā Wair ...

and the movement he founded, the early missionaries and their relationships with the

Māori people The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several ce ...

and a history of the Internet in New Zealand.

Early life and career

Newman was raised in

Feilding Feilding ( mi, Aorangi) is a town in the Manawatū District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 54, 20 kilometres north of Palmerston North. The town is the seat of the Manawatū District Council. Feilding has w ...

in the central North Island of New Zealand. He lived in Auckland for 25 years before moving to

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

in 2009. He has worked in newspapers, magazines and radio for over 30 years, winning awards for journalism and feature writing.

Author

After 20 years of research, in 2006

Reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * Re ...

published Newman's book ''Ratana Revisited – An Unfinished Legacy.'' Two years later he was asked by

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

, which took over Reed Publishing, to write a condensed and more focused version which was published as ''Ratana – The Prophet'' in 2009. Newman also wrote the article in Te Ara, the New Zealand Government online encyclopaedia, about the Ratana movement. In between he was commissioned by

InternetNZ InternetNZ (officially Internet New Zealand Inc., formerly the Internet Society of New Zealand) is a not-for-profit open membership organisation and the designated manager for the .nz country code top-level internet domain. It also supports the ...

to write the history of the Internet in New Zealand. The resulting book ''Connecting the Clouds – The Internet in New Zealand'' (Activity Press 2008) is also published as a

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...

and available free under a

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

license. In 2009 Penguin published his book ''Bible & Treaty: Missionaries Among the Maori'', and have since released a second edition. The follow-up companion title ''Beyond Betrayal: Trouble in the Promised Land'' was published in September 2013. In 2018 he received a New Zealand History Award to support the writing of ''Hidden Heritage of the Cape Coast'', which focuses on the Māori, colonial and more recent history of the coastal Hawke’s Bay settlements of

Haumoana Haumoana is a coastal town just south of the Tukituki River outlet in Hawke Bay on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is located 12 km south of Napier and ten kilometres east of Hastings. The village incorporates a school, a ...

Te Awanga Te Awanga is a small rural beachside town in Hawke's Bay region, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. Te Awanga is near Cape Kidnappers, which has a renowned colony of the Australasian gannet. Te Awanga town is just smaller than Haumoana, which is furthe ...

and Clifton.

Radio journalism

Newman has written, produced and narrated over 20 programmes for

Radio New Zealand National RNZ National ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa Ā-Motu), formerly Radio New Zealand National, and known until 2007 as the National Programme or National Radio, is a publicly funded non-commercial New Zealand English-language radio network operat ...

's ''Musical Chairs'' series, mainly dealing with pop and rock musicians from the period of the 1960s and 1970s, predominantly those who had recording success locally and toured offshore.

Environmental action

Newman is the chairman of the WOW (Walking on Water) lobby group, which is particularly concerned with

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...

in the Haumoana beach area where he lives.

Awards

* New Zealand History Award,

Ministry for Culture and Heritage The Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH; ) is the department of the New Zealand Government responsible for supporting the arts, culture, built heritage, sport and recreation, and broadcasting sectors in New Zealand and advising government on ...

, 2018 * The Swaytech Journalist Award,

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

Hi-Tech Awards 2009 * New Zealand Radio Awards: Blerta Years, Radio New Zealand National, Best Produced Music Feature, 2007 * Best Magazine Feature Writer, IC&T,

Qantas Media Award The New Zealand Newspaper Publishers’ Association awards are annual New Zealand media awards recognising excellence in the news print media. The first awards were held in 1974 giving out awards for news photography and have expanded to include ...

s 2004 * Journalist of the Year 2004, Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ)

Publications

*'' Ratana Revisited – An Unfinished Legacy'' (Raupo/Reed 2006) * ''Connecting the Clouds – the Internet in New Zealand'' (Activity Press / InternetNZ 2008) * ''Ratana the Prophet'' (Raupo-Penguin 2009) * ''Bible & Treaty: Missionaries Among the Maori'' (Penguin 2010) * ''Beyond Betrayal: Trouble in the Promised Land'' (Penguin 2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Keith New Zealand writers New Zealand radio presenters Living people 1954 births People from Feilding