Whiti Hereaka (born 1978) is a New Zealand playwright, novelist and screenwriter and a barrister and solicitor. She has held a number of writing residencies and appeared at literary festivals in New Zealand and overseas, and several of her books and plays have been shortlisted for or won awards. In 2022 her book ''Kurangaituku'' won the prize for fiction at the

Ockham New Zealand Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder W ...

and ''Bugs'' won an Honour Award in the 2014 New Zealand Post Awards for Children and Young Adults. She lives in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

, New Zealand.

Biography

Whiti Hereaka was born in 1978 and grew up in Taupo. Hereaka is of

Ngāti Tūwharetoa Ngāti Tūwharetoa is an iwi descended from Ngātoro-i-rangi, the priest who navigated the Arawa canoe to New Zealand. The Tūwharetoa region extends from Te Awa o te Atua ( Tarawera River) at Matatā across the central plateau of the North Is ...

Te Arawa Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the Arawa migration canoe (''waka''). Her favourite childhood reading included books by Roald Dahl, the

Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven high fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' has been Adaptations of The Chron ...

series, '' Anne of Green Gables'', ''

Tanglewood Tales ''Tanglewood Tales for Boys and Girls'' (1853) is a book by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, a sequel to ''A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys''. It is a re-writing of well-known Greek myths in a volume for children. Overview The book includes t ...

'' and

The Moomins The Moomins ( sv, Mumintroll) are the central characters in a series of novels, short stories, and a comic strip by Finns, Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish language, Swedish by Schildts in Finland. The ...

. She is a barrister and solicitor and holds a Masters in Creative Writing (Scriptwriting) from the

International Institute of Modern Letters The International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) ( mi, Te Pūtahi Tuhi Auaha o te Ao) is a centre of creative writing based within Victoria University of Wellington. Founded in 2001, the IIML offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses (i ...

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kno ...

. In 2022, she was appointed as a permanent, fulltime lecturer in the creative writing programme at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa / Massey University. Hereaka has written many plays for stage and radio as well as several novels, and has held a number of writing residencies, including writer in residence at Randell Cottage in Wellington in 2007, the Summer residency at the Michael King Writers Centre in 2012, writer in residence at the International Writers Program in Iowa City in 2013 and the Māori Writer’s Residency at the Michael King Writers Centre in 2017. She has been invited to appear at several festivals including the

Auckland Writers Festival Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki is the largest annual literary festival in Aotearoa New Zealand since 1999. It has about 200 public events each year featuring local and international writers as guests. History and staff The inau ...

, the Taipei International Book Exhibition in Taiwan and the Singapore Writers Festival (all in 2015) and the WORD Christchurch Festival in 2018. In 2012 she was selected for Te Papa Tupu, a writers’ programme supported by the Māori Literature Trust,

Huia Publishers Huia Publishers (HUIA) is a book publishing company based in Wellington, New Zealand established in 1991. HUIA publish material in Māori language and English for adults and children. HUIA was founded by Robyn Rangihuia Bargh (CNZM) and her ...

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets ...

and

Te Puni Kōkiri Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK), the Ministry of Māori Development, is the principal policy advisor of the Government of New Zealand on Māori wellbeing and development. Te Puni Kōkiri was established under the Māori Development Act 1991 with responsib ...

and she has since been a mentor and judge for the same programme. Her book ''Legacy'' from 2018 is a timeslip novel about a Māori teenager who travels back in time to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and finds himself serving as his great-great grandfather, Te Ariki, in the Māori Contingent. She is a trustee of the Māori Literature Trust, and lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Awards and prizes

''The Graphologist’s Apprentice'' was shortlisted for Best First Book in the

Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

(Asia/Pacific region) 2011. Whiti Hereaka won the 2012 Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. Her other playwriting awards include Best Play by a Māori Playwright in the Adam NZ Play Awards for ''Te Kaupoi'' (2010) and ''Rona and Rabbit on the Moon'' (2011). Her plays have been called "poetic, poignant, and wildly imaginative". ''Bugs'' was a Young Adult Fiction finalist in the 2014

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are a series of literary awards presented annually to recognise excellence in children and young adult's literature in New Zealand. The awards began in 1982 as the New Zealand Governme ...

and won an Honour Award. ''Bugs'' was also named as a Storylines Notable Book and was a finalist in the 2014 LIANZA Awards. ''Legacy'' won the Young Adult Fiction award in the 2019 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. In 2021 she was awarded the NZSA Peter and Dianne Beatson Fellowship. Hereaka's book ''Kurangaituku'' won the NZ$60,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn prize for fiction at the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. This book is about the Te Awara Māori legend of Hatupatu from the point of view of the bird-women 'Kurangaituku'. The awards convener Rob Kidd said of the book that it was “intense, clever and sexy as hell. It’s also an important novel. A game changer.” In 2023, the book was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award.

Bibliography

Novels ''The Graphologist's Apprentice'' (

Huia The huia ( ; ; ''Heteralocha acutirostris'') is an extinct species of New Zealand wattlebird, endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. The last confirmed sighting of a huia was in 1907, although there was a credible sighting in 1924. It ...

, 2010) ''Bugs'' (Huia, 2013) ''Legacy'' (Huia, 2018) ''Pūrākau'' (2019) anthology of Māori myths (co-editor with

Witi Ihimaera Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler (; born 7 February 1944) is a New Zealand author. Raised in the small town of Waituhi, he decided to become a writer as a teenager after being convinced that Māori people were ignored or mischaracterised in literat ...

) ''Kurangaituku'' (Huia, 2021) Plays ''Ohrwurm'' ''Fallow'' ( Tawata Productions, 2005) ''Collective Agreement'' ( Young and Hungry, 2005) ''I Ain't Nothing But/A Glimmer in the Dark She Said'' (Open Book Productions for STAB 2006) ''Te Kaupoi'' (Bush Collective, 2010) ''For Johnny'' (Young and Hungry, 2011) ''Rona and Rabbit on the Moon'' (Winner, Best New Play by a Māori Playwright, Adam Play Awards 2011) ''Raw Men'' (shortlisted for the Adam New Play award 2012) ''Rewena'' (

Centrepoint Theatre Centrepoint Theatre is a theatre and theatre company in Palmerston North in New Zealand. Established in 1973, the theatre has employed more than 2500 actors and produced more New Zealand plays than any other theatre. History The theatre open ...

, 2013)

External links

* Biography o
Whiti Hereaka
at New Zealand Book Council: Te Kaunihera Pukapuka o Aotearoa
Māori and Pacific theatre
at Te Ara

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hereaka, Whiti Living people New Zealand children's writers New Zealand women children's writers New Zealand Māori writers 1978 births Ngāti Tūwharetoa people Te Arawa people 21st-century New Zealand lawyers New Zealand dramatists and playwrights International Institute of Modern Letters alumni