Patricia Grace
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Patricia Frances Grace (; born 17 August 1937) is a New Zealand
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
writer of novels, short stories, and children's books. She began writing as a young adult, while working as a teacher. Her early short stories were published in magazines, leading to her becoming the first female Māori writer to publish a collection of short stories, ''Waiariki'', in 1975. Her first novel, ''Mutuwhenua: The Moon Sleeps'', followed in 1978. Since becoming a full-time writer in the 1980s, Grace has written seven novels, seven short-story collections, a non-fiction biography and an autobiography. Her works explore Māori life and culture, including the impact of
Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...
(New Zealand European) and other cultures on Māori, with use of the
Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...
throughout. Her most well-known novel, ''Potiki'' (1986) features a Māori community opposing the private development of their
ancestral land Ancestral domain or ancestral lands refers to the lands, territories and resources of indigenous peoples, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The term differs from indigenous land rights, Aboriginal title or Native Title by directly indica ...
. She has also written a number of children's books, seeking to write books in which Māori children can see their own lives. Grace is a pioneering and influential figure in New Zealand literature, and over her career has won a number of awards, including the
Kiriyama Prize The Kiriyama Prize was an international literary award awarded to books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia. Its goal was to encourage greater understanding among the peoples and nations of the region. Established in 1996, the prize was last awa ...
, the
Neustadt International Prize for Literature The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is a biennial award for literature sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and its international literary publication, ''World Literature Today''. It is considered one of the more prestigious inte ...
, two honorary doctorates of literature, a
Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement is a New Zealand literary award established in 2003 by the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand), the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government. Each ...
, and an Icon Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand for extraordinary lifetime achievement. Her books have twice won the top award for fiction at the
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 ...
. She was appointed a
Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...
(DCNZM) in 2007, for services to literature.


Early life and career

Grace is of
Ngāti Toa Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Toarangatira or Ngāti Toa Rangatira, is a Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) based in the southern North Island and in the northern South Island of New Zealand. Its ''rohe'' (tribal area) extends from Whanganui in the north, Palmerston N ...
,
Ngāti Raukawa Ngāti Raukawa is a Māori iwi with traditional bases in the Waikato, Taupo and Manawatu/Horowhenua regions of New Zealand. In 2006, 29,418 Māori registered their affiliation with Ngāti Raukawa. History Early history Ngāti Raukawa reco ...
and
Te Āti Awa Te Āti Awa is a Māori iwi with traditional bases in the Taranaki and Wellington regions of New Zealand. Approximately 17,000 people registered their affiliation to Te Āti Awa in 2001, with around 10,000 in Taranaki, 2,000 in Wellington and arou ...
descent. She was born on 17 August 1937 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 me ...
, New Zealand. Her father was Māori and her mother was European and
Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British ...
. On her father's side she is descended from politician Wi Parata. She grew up in the suburb of Melrose, where her father had built the family home, and also spent time with her father's family at
Hongoeka Hongoeka is a community in the city of Porirua in New Zealand. It is northwest of Plimmerton and adjacent to Hongoeka Bay. It extends from an urupā (cemetery) boundary at the end of Moana Road, to Haukōpua (commonly known as Big Bay). A resid ...
, on their
ancestral land Ancestral domain or ancestral lands refers to the lands, territories and resources of indigenous peoples, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The term differs from indigenous land rights, Aboriginal title or Native Title by directly indica ...
. In 1944, when she was seven, her father enlisted in the
Māori Battalion The 28th (Māori) Battalion, more commonly known as the Māori Battalion, was an infantry battalion of the New Zealand Army that served during the Second World War. It formed following pressure on the Labour government from some Māori Memb ...
to fight in the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. She attended St Anne's School in Wellington, where she later described experiencing racism: "I found that being different meant that I could be blamed – for a toy gun being stolen, for writing being chalked on a garage wall, for neighbourhood children swearing, for a grassy hillside being set alight". Grace has said that as a child she did not learn to speak Māori, because it was only spoken at formal events such as tangi (traditional Māori funeral ceremonies). She began to make efforts to learn as an adult, but found it difficult. She subsequently attended St Mary's College, where she excelled at basketball, and subsequently
Wellington Teachers' Training College Wellington College of Education (formerly Wellington Teachers' Training College) was established in 1888 with the purpose of educating teachers in New Zealand. It became the Faculty of Education of Victoria University of Wellington, formed from th ...
. It was not until she had left high school that she began to read works by New Zealand authors; she said that until this time, "I didn't kind of know that a writer was something one could aspire to be and that was partly because I'd never read writing by New Zealand writers". She began writing at age 25, while working full-time as a teacher in North Auckland. Her first published short story was "The Dream", in bilingual magazine ''
Te Ao Hou / The New World ''Te Ao Hou / The New World'' was a quarterly magazine published in New Zealand from 1952 to 1975. It was published by the Māori Affairs Department and printed by Pegasus Press. It was bilingual, with articles in both English and Māori, and c ...
'' in 1966. In 1979,
South Pacific Television South Pacific Television (SPTV) was a television channel in New Zealand, which operated between 1976 and 1980. History The channel, then known as TV2, first went to air on 30 June 1975. It was the second national government television channel ...
produced a television version of this story for the show ''Pacific Viewpoint''. She also had early stories published in the ''
New Zealand Listener The ''New Zealand Listener'' is a weekly New Zealand magazine that covers the political, cultural and literary life of New Zealand by featuring a variety of topics, including current events, politics, social issues, health, technology, arts, f ...
''. These early works led to a publisher approaching Grace to ask her to work on a collection of short stories. In 1974 she received the first Māori Purposes Fund Board grant for Māori writers.


Literary career


1975–1990

Grace's first published book, ''Waiariki'' (1975), was the first collection of short stories to be published by a female Māori writer, and its ten stories show the diversity of Māori life and culture. Writer Rachel Nunns said these early stories "inform readers at an emotional, imaginative level with the sense of what it means to be a Maori". Grace's first novel, ''Mutuwhenua: The Moon Sleeps'' (1978), was about the relationship of a Māori woman and
Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...
man and their experiences of racial prejudice. It was inspired by the experiences of Grace's parents, and marked the first time a relationship of this kind had been described by a Māori writer. It was followed by her second collection of short stories ''The Dream Sleepers and Other Stories'' (1980). This collection featured a three-page story told by a mother speaking to her new baby, called "Between Earth and Sky", which is one of the best-known and most anthologised New Zealand short stories. These early works were critically acclaimed. In 1984 she collaborated with painter
Robyn Kahukiwa Robyn Kahukiwa (born 1938) is an Australian-born New Zealand artist, award-winning children's book author, and illustrator. Kahukiwa has created a significant collection of paintings, books, prints, drawings, and sculptures. Life Kahukiwa was b ...
to produce ''Wahine Toa'', a book about women from Māori legends. Although she continued working as a full-time teacher until 1985, her income in this period was supplemented by grants from the New Zealand Literary Fund in 1975 and 1983. In the early 1980s, Grace began writing for children, and sought to write books in which Māori children could see their own lives. ''The Kuia and the Spider / Te Kuia me te Pungawerewere'' (1981), illustrated by Kahukiwa, told the story of a spinning contest between a kuia (elderly Māori woman) and a spider, and was published by a group of women from the Spiral Collective in both English and Māori. Grace subsequently published ''Watercress Tuna and the Children of Champion Street / Te Tuna Watakirihi me Nga Tamariki o te Tiriti o Toa'' (1984), also illustrated by Kahukiwa (and published in English, Māori and Samoan) and several Māori language readers. ''The Trolley'' (1993), illustrated by Kerry Gemmill, told the story of a single mother making a trolley for her children for Christmas. In 1985, Grace received a writing fellowship at
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 know ...
, which enabled her to give up teaching, become a full-time writer, and complete the novel ''Potiki'' (1986), which became her most successful novel. The plot of the novel featured a Māori community opposing the private development of their ancestral land, and the attempts of the developer to buy them out. The name "potiki" can mean "youngest child" or "last-born" in Māori, and refers to the central character of Toko, a child who foresees and is impacted by the conflict over the land. Grace intentionally did not include a glossary for Māori language terms in the book or italicise these terms, on the basis that she "didn't want the Māori language to be treated as a foreign language in its own country". The novel was viewed by some critics as political; John Beston, writing for ''Landfall'', suggested that "having sought previously to soothe her Pakeha readers and to suppress her anger,
race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
is now ready to charge them, not with past and irremediable injustices, but with continuing injustices". Grace said that she was endeavouring to write about "ordinary lives of ordinary people" and did not expect it to be seen as political. The novel has been translated into seven languages, and in 2020 was republished in Britain by the
Penguin Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the Western ...
imprint. Grace was also active in the promotion of Māori arts during the 1980s. In 1983 she was a founding member of Haeata, a Māori women artists' collective, through which she guided young Māori women artists and participated in group exhibitions such as "Karanga Karanga" (1986), which was the first exhibition of collaborative work by Māori women artists in a public museum. In the late 1980s, she was a founding member of Te Hā, a collective of Māori writers. Her third short story collection, ''Electric City and Other Stories'' was published in 1987.


1990–2015

Grace's third novel, ''Cousins'', was published in 1992. It is the story of three cousins across different parts of their lives. Like Māori culture as a whole it is concerned with
whakapapa Whakapapa (, ), or genealogy, is a fundamental principle in Māori culture. Reciting one's whakapapa proclaims one's Māori identity, places oneself in a wider context, and links oneself to land and tribal groupings and the mana of those. Exper ...
(family history) and family ties, rather than the success of the individual, and it reflects troubling parts of New Zealand's history such as the removal of Māori children from their families by the state. Academic Roger Robinson said that while the book sometimes seems like a
polemic Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics ...
, "Grace's descriptive and impressionistic skills, her insight into the consciousness of women and children, and the sustained inwardness of the Māori perspective, make ''Cousins'' a significant and uniquely Māori version of the genre of family saga". Grace has used ''Cousins'' as an example of her approach to writing, which is to develop characters before developing plot: "I had an idea in mind that I was going to base the novel around two cousins, two women who shared the same ancestry, and during the course of the story the third cousin became important to the plot." Her fourth novel, ''Baby No-Eyes'', was published in 1998, having taken her five years to write. The book is narrated by an unborn child who was killed together with her father in a car accident, along with other members of her family, and weaves together family drama with contemporary Māori problems. Pauline Swain, reviewing the book for '' The Dominion'', praised Grace's "deceptively light touch with material that in other hands could be bombastic or preachy", and noted "her portrayal of contemporary issues such as land claims and the right to use genetic information for research loses nothing in impact for all its delicately oblique handling". Nelson Wattie, writing in the ''New Zealand Review of Books'', called it "profoundly disturbing" and lacking in coherence, but acknowledged that "the doubts expressed here run counter to the warmth with which this book, like others of its author, has been greeted elsewhere". It was soon followed by her fifth novel ''Dogside Story'' (2001) centred on a small seaside Māori community. Reviewer Simone Drichel observed that although the book shared some similarities in setting and characters with ''Potiki'', the "nature of the challenges" faced by Maori had changed in the intervening years: "For the first time ... it is not primarily the interaction with Pakeha that poses a challenge for Maori, but Maoridom itself." By this time, Grace had become an established and well-known writer.
Elspeth Sandys Elspeth Somerville Sandys (born 1940) is a New Zealand author and script writer. Background Born in Timaru in 1940, she grew up in Dunedin. She was adopted by the Alley family and was exposed to literature from a young age by Rewi Alley. ...
observed in 2001 that the release of a new novel by Grace was "one of the more significant events in ew Zealand'sliterary calendar". Her sixth novel, ''Tu'' (2004), was based on the experiences of the
Māori Battalion The 28th (Māori) Battalion, more commonly known as the Māori Battalion, was an infantry battalion of the New Zealand Army that served during the Second World War. It formed following pressure on the Labour government from some Māori Memb ...
in Italy during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and in particular the experiences of Grace's father and other family members who were part of the Battalion. She described the experience of writing a book about "men and especially men at war" as a "wonderful challenge". Reviewer
Iain Sharp Iain Sharp (born 1953 in Glasgow) is a New Zealand poet and critic. Sharp emigrated with his family to New Zealand in 1961, where they settled in Auckland. He studied at Auckland University where he received a doctorate in English in 1982. His ...
praised Grace's compassionate treatment of the subject, concuding: "The crowning achievement of this fine writer's career, ''Tu'' will surely become one of the classics of our literature". In 2013 it was adapted for the theatre by New Zealand playwright
Hone Kouka Hone Vivian Kouka is a New Zealand playwright. He has written 13 plays, which have been staged in New Zealand and worldwide including Canada, South Africa, New Caledonia and Britain. Kouka's plays have won multiple awards at the Chapman Tripp T ...
. ''Small Holes in the Silence'', published in 2006, was Grace's first collection of short stories since 1987. Lawrence Jones in the ''New Zealand Review of Books'' praised the variety of stories but felt it did not meet the "sheer sustained emotional engagement of the earlier collections", and James O'Sullivan for the ''Taranaki Daily News'' equally found the stories "less than memorable". Both reviewers felt that the short story "Eben", about a mentally disabled homeless man, was the strongest story in the collection. In 2008 she published a children's book, ''Maraea and the Albatrosses / Ko Maraea Me Nga Toroa'', illustrated by her brother Brian Gunson. Grace was approached around this time by the family of Ned Nathan, a Māori Battalion soldier who was wounded in
Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...
, and his wife Katina, a Cretan woman who nursed him back to health, and asked to write the story of their relationship. The resulting non-fiction biography, ''Ned & Katina: a true love story'', was published in 2009. At this time Grace put aside her draft novel (later to be published as ''Chappy'' in 2015) in order to concentrate on family responsibilities, including caring for her mother and husband.


2015–present

Grace's seventh novel ''Chappy'' was published in 2015, and topped New Zealand's bestseller list. It was her first novel in over ten years, and was dedicated to her husband who had died in 2013. It is a family saga about a relationship between a Japanese man and a Māori woman, and is structured with multiple narrators and events related in a non-linear way. Simone Oettli, in her review for ''Landfall'', noted that the themes of the book include "acceptance of cultural differences ... disappearance and loss, love and belonging, as well as the craft of storytelling". Lawrence Jones called it "well worth the decade-long wait". In the same year she published children's picture book ''Haka'', which told the story of the "
Ka Mate "Ka Mate" () is a Māori haka composed by Te Rauparaha, war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe of the North Island of New Zealand. Composition Te Rauparaha composed "Ka Mate" circa 1820 as a celebration of life over death after his lucky escape fro ...
" haka. It was illustrated by Andrew Burdan and translated into Māori as ''Whiti Te Rā!'' by Kawata Teepa. Grace continues to be recognised for her "pioneering role" in New Zealand literature. In a review of ''Chappy'',
Paula Morris Paula Jane Kiri Morris (born 18 August 1965) is a New Zealand novelist, short-story writer editor and literary academic. She is an associate professor at the University of Auckland and founder of the Academy of New Zealand Literature. Life Mor ...
described Grace as "a quiet and persistent presence in New Zealand literature, a groundbreaker who is, at the same time, old-fashioned in the calmness of her tone, the particularity of her focus, and her abiding interest in the particularities of Māori customs and stories". In July 2016 a sculpture in her honour was unveiled on the
Porirua Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide swee ...
Writers' Walk, featuring a quote from ''Potiki'' (Grace also features on the
Wellington Writers Walk The Wellington Writers Walk is made up of a series of 23 quotations from New Zealand writers, including poets, novelists, and playwrights. The quotations are placed along the Wellington Waterfront, Wellington waterfront, from Kumutoto stream to ...
, established in 2002). In 2017 her children's book ''Watercress Tuna and the Children of Champion Street'' was adapted for the stage by Tupe Lualua and performed by 70 students from Cannon’s Creek School at the Measina Festival, a showcase of Pasifika art and theatre. In 2018, a bilingual edition of ''Wāhine Toa'', translated by Hēni Jacob, was published by Te Tākupu (the publishing house of Te Wānanga o Raukawa). Her autobiography ''From the Centre: a writer's life'' was published by Penguin Books in May 2021. Reviewer Emma Espiner said of the book that it "relays a lifetime of doing things her own way"; "The picture that emerges is of a quietly determined, subversive and nuanced thinker". In the same year, her novel ''Cousins'' (1992) was adapted into the feature film of the same name, directed by
Ainsley Gardiner Ainsley Amohaere Gardiner is a film producer from New Zealand. She is of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Pikiao and Ngāti Awa descent. Early life Gardiner was born in Palmerston North and grew up in the Wellington suburb of Wadestown, attend ...
and
Briar Grace-Smith Briar Grace-Smith is a screenwriter, director, actor, and short story writer from New Zealand. She has worked as an actor and writer with the Maori theatre cooperative Te Ohu Whakaari and Maori theatre company He Ara Hou. Early plays ''Don't Ca ...
. Grace-Smith was previously married to Grace's son, and had attended the launch of the novel 19 years earlier at Takapūwāhia Marae. In 2021, Grace was the chief judge for the Sargeson Prize (named after
Frank Sargeson Frank Sargeson () (born Norris Frank Davey; 23 March 1903 – 1 March 1982) was a New Zealand short story writer and novelist. Born in Hamilton, Sargeson had a middle-class and puritanical upbringing, and initially worked as a lawyer. After ...
), New Zealand's most valuable short-story prize.


Awards and honours

Grace has won awards for her writing since the outset of her career, with her first book, ''Waiariki'' (1975), receiving the Hubert Church Memorial Award for Best First Book of Fiction, awarded by PEN NZ. ''Potiki'' (1986) came third in the Wattie Book of the Year Awards in 1986, and won the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction in 1987. In 1994 it received the award in Germany. Her children's book ''The Kuia and the Spider / Te Kuia me te Pungawerewere'' (1981) won the Children's Picture Book of the Year Award at the New Zealand Government Publishing Awards, and ''The Trolley'' received the Russell Clark Award for children's book illustration in 1994. ''Baby No-Eyes'' (1988) was shortlisted for the Tasmania Pacific Region Prize. In the 1988 Queen's Birthday Honours, Grace was appointed a
Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...
(QSO) for community service. She also received Scholarships in Letters in 1988 and 1992–1993. In 1989, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Literature (LitD) by
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 know ...
. ''Dogside Story'' (2001) won the 2001
Kiriyama Prize The Kiriyama Prize was an international literary award awarded to books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia. Its goal was to encourage greater understanding among the peoples and nations of the region. Established in 1996, the prize was last awa ...
for Fiction, was longlisted for the
Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...
in 2001 and the
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...
in 2003, and was shortlisted in the
Montana 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 ...
in 2002 and for the Tasmania Pacific Region Prize in 2004. ''Tu'' (2004) was awarded the Deutz Medal for Fiction and the Montana Award for Fiction at the 2005 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, and the 2005 Nielsen Book Data New Zealand Booksellers' Choice Award. ''Chappy'' (2015) was a finalist in the fiction category at the 2016
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 ...
. In the same year, her children's picture book ''Haka'', translated into Māori as ''Whiti te Rā!'' by Kawata Teepa, was the recipient of the Te Kura Pounamu Award for the best Māori language work at the
New Zealand 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 Governm ...
. In 2005 Grace received an Icon Award from the
Arts Foundation of New Zealand 'The Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi is a New Zealand arts organisation that supports artistic excellence and facilitates private philanthropy through raising funds for the arts and allocating it to New Zealand artists. The concept ...
, an award bestowed on twenty of New Zealand’s most significant living artists for extraordinary lifetime achievement. In 2006, she was one of three honourees awarded a
Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement is a New Zealand literary award established in 2003 by the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand), the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government. Each ...
, recognising her significant contribution to New Zealand's literature.
Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...
, then the prime minister of New Zealand, said her work "played a key role in the emergence of Maori fiction in English". Grace was appointed a
Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...
(DCNZM), for services to literature, in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours. In 2009, she declined redesignation as a Dame Companion following the restoration of titular honours by the New Zealand government. At the time, she expressed the opinion that the restoration of titles was a retrograde step and that she "thought that we were getting away from the colonial past". In 2008, Grace was awarded the
Neustadt International Prize for Literature The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is a biennial award for literature sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and its international literary publication, ''World Literature Today''. It is considered one of the more prestigious inte ...
.
Joy Harjo Joy Harjo ( ; born May 9, 1951) is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetr ...
, who nominated Grace for the Neustadt Prize, has said of her writing: Grace received an honorary
Doctorate of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...
(DLit) from the World Indigenous Nations University in 2016, conferred at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, Ōtaki, for her literary accomplishments and her writing around Māori themes. In the same year, she was awarded the Te Tohu Aroha mō Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu (Exemplary/Supreme Award) at the
Te Waka Toi Awards The Te Waka Toi awards are the premier awards in the field of ''ngā toi Māori'' (Māori arts). They have been awarded by Creative New Zealand and predecessors since 1986. The awards recognise ''tohunga'' (skilled people), artists and community ...
, which she described as a "great honour".


Personal life

Grace was married to children's author Kerehi Waiariki Grace, having met him at teachers' college. They had seven children together, and he died in 2013. Grace has described their marriage as one of shared contributions: "My husband and I worked together on everything that needed to be done. It wasn't as though I had to do the housework and look after the children, because we shared all this." Her novel ''Chappy'' (2015) was dedicated to him. Their daughter Kohai is an acclaimed weaver, and their sons Wiremu and Himonia are filmmakers. Grace does voluntary work, such as managing
iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...
work schemes for unemployed people. In 2014, she won a legal battle against the New Zealand government, which had tried to compulsorily acquire land at Hongoeka Bay under the Public Works Act in order to build an expressway. The court decided that the land, which was the last remaining part of Wi Parata's landholdings held by his descendants, should be protected as a Māori reservation. Grace still lives in Hongoeka on her ancestral land and close to her home
marae A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...
(meeting place).


Selected works


Novels and non-fiction

*''Mutuwhenua: The Moon Sleeps'' (Longman Paul, 1978) *''Potiki'' (1986) *''Cousins'' (Penguin Books NZ, 1992) *''Baby No-eyes'' (Penguin Books NZ, 1998) *''Dogside Story'' (Penguin Books NZ, 2001) *''Tu'' (Penguin Books NZ, 2004) * ''Ned and Katina: a true love story'' (Penguin Books NZ, 2009), biography *''Chappy'' (Penguin Books NZ, 2015) * ''From the Centre: a writer's life'' (Penguin Books NZ, 2021), autobiography


Short-story collections

*''Waiariki'' (Longman Paul, 1975) *''The Dream Sleepers'' (Longman Paul, 1980) *''Electric City and Other Stories'' (Penguin Books NZ, 1987) *''Selected Stories'' (Penguin Books NZ, 1991) *''The Sky People'' (Penguin Books NZ, 1994) *''Collected Stories'' (Penguin Books NZ, 2001) *''Small Holes in the Silence'' (Penguin Books NZ, 2006)


Children's books

*''The Kuia and the Spider / Te Kuia me te Pungawerewere'' (Kidsarus 2 / Longman Paul, 1981), illustrated by
Robyn Kahukiwa Robyn Kahukiwa (born 1938) is an Australian-born New Zealand artist, award-winning children's book author, and illustrator. Kahukiwa has created a significant collection of paintings, books, prints, drawings, and sculptures. Life Kahukiwa was b ...
*''Watercress Tuna and the Children of Champion Street / Te Tuna Watakirihi me Nga Tamariki o te Tiriti o Toa'' (Penguin Books NZ, 1984), illustrated by Robyn Kahukiwa * ''The Trolley'' (Penguin Books NZ, 1993), illustrated by Kerry Gemmill * ''Areta & the Kahawai / Ko Areta me Nga Kahawai'' (Penguin Books NZ, 1994), illustrated by Kerry Gemmill * ''Maraea and the Albatrosses / Ko Maraea me Nga Toroa'' (Penguin Books NZ, 2008), illustrated by Brian Gunson * ''Haka / Whiti te Rā!'' (Huia Publishers, 2015), illustrated by Andrew Burdan and translated into Māori by Kawata Teepa


References


External links


Grace's biography
at
Read NZ Te Pou Muramura Read NZ Te Pou Muramura (formerly the New Zealand Book Council) is a not-for-profit organisation that presents a wide range of programmes to promote books and reading in New Zealand. History It was established in 1972 as a response to UNESCO's ...

Bibliography
from the New Zealand Literature File (web archive copy)
Radio interview with Grace, 11 May 2021
by
Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grace, Patricia 1937 births 20th-century New Zealand novelists 20th-century New Zealand short story writers 20th-century New Zealand women writers 21st-century New Zealand novelists 21st-century New Zealand short story writers 21st-century New Zealand women writers Companions of the Queen's Service Order Distinguished Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit Living people New Zealand children's writers New Zealand Māori writers New Zealand women children's writers New Zealand women novelists New Zealand women short story writers People educated at St Mary's College, Wellington People from Porirua People from Wellington City Ngāti Toa people Ngāti Raukawa people Te Āti Awa people Māori-language writers