Kapiti College Library

Notes

Te Ao Marama is a landmark anthology of written and oral literature by Maori since 1980. Ranginui Walker described the first volume as ‘a treasure chest of cloaks woven by many talented authors’; it was later short-listed for the 1993 Goodman Fielder Wattie Award.
This third volume, ‘Te Puawaitanga o te Korero’ (‘The Flowering), focuses on an extraordinary outburst of creative activity as the new generation of novelists, short-story writers, poets, playwrights and songwriters seek to interpret their place in an ever-changing world.

In 1986, Keri Hulme won the Booker Prize for the bone people, and in doing so changed the course of Maori literature. Alan Duff’s Once Were Warriors, published in 1990, became one for the best-selling novels ever published in New Zealand. These are but two for the triumphs chartered in this volume, which also offers an extract from Keri Hulme’s long-awaited second novel Bait. Other contributors include Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, Bruce Stewart, Roma Potiki, Hinewirangi and many more. Much of the work in the volume is previously unpublished.
Not afraid to experiment, these writers embrace all the media available -- modern song lyrics, protest poetry, rap, theatre, radio, television and film. Many of them explore contemporary life on the streets of New Zealand’s cities, with vibrant work that bursts beyond the expected to challenge both Maori and Pakeha concepts of identity.

Librarian's Miscellania

n English, some text in Maori.