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Kōrero: East Coast region

East Coast writers: Witi Ihimaera

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East Coast writers: Witi Ihimaera

Witi Ihimaera (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki) was the first Māori writer to publish both short stories and a novel in English. His family has its roots in Waituhi in Poverty Bay, near Rongopai, a meeting house famed for its painted interior. An imagined Waituhi has been an important element in Ihimaera’s fiction. Here Ihimaera (centre) is photographed with members of the Waituhi Trust in 1986.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Tairawhiti Museum, Te Whare Taonga O Te Tairawhiti

Reference: 017.1-28

Permission of Tairawhiti Museum, PO Box 716, Gisborne, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Monty Soutar, East Coast region – Arts, culture and heritage, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/33440/east-coast-writers-witi-ihimaera (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Monty Soutar, i tāngia i te 23 August 2011, updated 1 March 2015.