78-468: Potiki is a novel by New Zealand author Patricia Grace . First published in 1986, the book is a significant work in contemporary Māori literature, and explores themes of cultural identity, land rights, and the impacts of urban development on indigenous communities. It was critically and commercially successful, and received the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction in 1987. It was published during
156-784: A Penguin Classic in the United Kingdom. Potiki was widely praised by reviewers and has received several notable awards. John Beston, writing for Landfall , identified it as marking a new stage in Grace's career: "there is strong growth in Grace in this book, personally as well as artistically, as she presents an alternate way of life to that of the Pakeha [New Zealand European], with its own values". Ten years after its publication, Robinson wrote in The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature that
234-541: A "wonderful challenge". Reviewer Iain Sharp praised Grace's compassionate treatment of the subject, concluding: "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 . Small Holes in the Silence , published in 2006, was Grace's first collection of short stories since 1987. Lawrence Jones in
312-559: 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
390-512: 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 , 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:
468-527: A draw for a free copy of the book, Steve Braunias noted that he had previously seen "enthusiastic comments about authors but nothing resembling the depth of feeling – let's call it what it is: awe – towards Grace". 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
546-413: 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 man and their experiences coming from different cultures. It
624-543: 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, [Grace] 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
702-475: 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 . It
780-562: 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 Writers' Walk, featuring a quote from Potiki (Grace also features on the Wellington Writers Walk , established in 2002). In 2017 her children's book Watercress Tuna and
858-563: A key role in the emergence of Maori fiction in English". Grace was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (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
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#1733084634172936-454: A meeting house there are people who belong to that meeting house. I asked myself who they might be. I started off with one character – that was Roimata – and how she came to be there, in that community. And then her children one by one, and her husband. I didn't know from one chapter to the next what was going to happen – I was just following. Grace initially wrote the novel in longhand , then "cut it up and stuck it back together with sellotape —
1014-468: A non-fiction work about the history of running and tracing its development into a professional sport. In a review for Outside , Amby Burfoot called it "one of the best running books ever written—if not the very best". Geoff Watson in the New Zealand Review of Books praised Robinson's tracing of the development of running as a sport. He said the book "has been widely and rightfully acclaimed [and]
1092-676: A number of awards, including the Kiriyama Prize , the Neustadt International Prize for Literature , two honorary doctorates of literature, a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement , 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 . She was appointed a Distinguished Companion of
1170-436: 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. 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 (family history) and family ties, rather than
1248-571: A runner, he competed internationally from 1966 to 1995 and won marathons at a Masters level in the 1980s. Robinson was born in Sutton Coldfield on 1939, and grew up in London. He earned a master's degree and PhD from the University of Cambridge , and moved to New Zealand in 1968, becoming a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1977. He became a lecturer at the University of Canterbury . In 1975, he
1326-588: A running national championship in New Zealand. They married in 1987. Robinson has two children from a previous marriage. In 2006, Robinson and Switzer co-authored 26.2: Marathon Stories , an illustrated history of the marathon. In 2016, they both appeared in the Swiss documentary film Free to Run , about the history of marathon running. He has continued running into his 70s and 80s following knee replacements in his right leg in 2011 and in his left leg in 2017; he has nicknamed his knees Russell and Mark respectively, after
1404-431: 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 ,
1482-478: 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 observed in 2001 that
1560-512: A subject really worth writing well about, at the absolutely top quality that would apply to professorial work." In 2011, a Festschrift (collection of tributes) to Robinson with over 50 contributors was published, titled Running Writing Robinson . It included essays and poems as "a gift to and a celebration of Roger Robinson". Contributors included New Zealand writers Fiona Kidman , Joy Cowley and Witi Ihimaera and runner Lorraine Moller . In 2018, he published When Running Made History ,
1638-505: A television version of this story for the show Pacific Viewpoint . She also had early stories published in the New Zealand Listener . 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. Grace's first published book, Waiariki (1975), was the first collection of short stories to be published by
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#17330846341721716-430: 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. 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
1794-489: 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
1872-579: Is a New Zealand academic, essayist, editor, runner, sportswriter, and sports commentator. Robinson earned his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and moved to New Zealand in 1968, where he became an English professor at Victoria University of Wellington . He has expertise in New Zealand literature (co-editing The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature in 1998) and literature and journalism relating to running. He has written and edited several books about running, including When Running Made History (2018), and received awards for his sporting journalism. As
1950-412: 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
2028-628: Is among the most readable and rewarding works of sports history ever published". In the same year, he received a media reporting excellence award from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons for an article about his knee replacement surgeries. As a nine-year-old, Robinson saw Emil Zátopek win the 10,000m event at the 1948 Summer Olympics , which inspired him to start running seriously. He began competing in running events for England in 1966, and would later compete for New Zealand internationally until 1995, including representing New Zealand at
2106-405: Is north of Wellington , New Zealand. Although the characters in the novel are fictional, Grace was influenced by the real-life attempts of private developers to acquire land at Hongoeka since the 1950s. On her writing process, Grace has said: When I started Potiki I thought I was writing a short story. I wrote the story about the carved meeting house, and when I finished that I thought if we have
2184-419: Is now ready to charge them, not with past and irremediable injustices, but with continuing injustices". In response to these comments, Grace has said that she was endeavouring to write about "ordinary lives of ordinary people" and did not expect it to be seen as political. She also rejects criticism that the novel is racist against Pākehā , and notes that she never specified the race of the developers. The novel
2262-682: The 1977 IAAF World Cross Country Championships . In the 1980s, Robinson won his Masters age category at the Boston Marathon (2:20:15 in 1984), the Vancouver Marathon , and the New York City Marathon . For forty years he worked as an announcer or commentator for sporting events, including notably the 10,000m race at the 1974 Commonwealth Games , won by Dick Tayler , and the 1981 New York City Marathon . In 1983, Robinson met runner and author Kathrine Switzer while speaking at
2340-460: The Arts Foundation of New Zealand , 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 , recognising her significant contribution to New Zealand's literature. Helen Clark , then the prime minister of New Zealand, said her work "played
2418-541: The Māori renaissance , a period of time in which Māori culture and language was experiencing a revitalisation, and academics have described it as being part of that movement. Due to its themes of Māori resistance to colonialisation, the novel was viewed by some critics as political, although Grace has said that her intention was to write about people living ordinary lives. It was also unusual for its time in not including an English glossary of te reo Māori (Māori language) words, on
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2496-479: 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
2574-716: 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 (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 . Dogside Story (2001) won
2652-798: 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 LiBeraturpreis [ de ] 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
2730-421: The 1980s, Māori language and culture underwent a renaissance , of which Potiki was a significant part. Academics such as Janet Wilson have commented on the novel's role in presenting themes of Māori resistance to colonialisation. The novel received fifth place in a list of favourite New Zealand books over the last 30 years based on a poll of writers, publishers and booksellers by The Dominion Post . In 2018
2808-723: The 2001 Kiriyama Prize for Fiction, was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2001 and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2003, and was shortlisted in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 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
2886-534: 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 . 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 . In 2005 Grace received an Icon Award from
2964-513: 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
3042-478: The New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM) in 2007, for services to literature. Patricia Grace is of Ngāti Toa , Ngāti Raukawa and Te Āti Awa descent. She was born on 17 August 1937 in Wellington , New Zealand. Her father was Māori and her mother was European and Irish Catholic . 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
3120-524: 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. As of 2021 , Grace was still living in Hongoeka, on her ancestral land and close to her home marae (meeting place). Roger Robinson (academic) Roger Derek Robinson (born 1939)
3198-460: 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
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3276-444: The basis that Grace did not want Māori to be "treated as a foreign language in its own country". In 1985, Patricia Grace received a writing fellowship at Victoria University of Wellington , which enabled her to give up teaching, become a full-time writer, and complete Potiki . It was her second novel, following Mutuwhenua: The Moon Sleeps (1978). The novel is set in a coastal community resembling Hongoeka , Grace's hometown, which
3354-442: The decade-long wait". In the same year she published children's picture book Haka , which told the story of the " Ka Mate " 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 described Grace as "a quiet and persistent presence in New Zealand literature,
3432-598: The family home, and also spent time with her father's family at Hongoeka , on their ancestral land . In 1944, when she was seven, her father enlisted in the Māori Battalion to fight in the Second World War . 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
3510-501: The first academic journal for New Zealand literature, the Journal of New Zealand Literature , and its first issue was published in 1983. Together with Nelson Wattie, Robinson edited The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature (1998), and himself contributed over 300 entries. It has been described by academic Alan Riach as "indispensable" and a "masterpiece". In 2003, he edited Robert Louis Stevenson: His Best Pacific Writings which
3588-512: 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 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
3666-476: The impact of Pākehā (New Zealand European) and other cultures on Māori, with use of the Māori language throughout. Her most well-known novel, Potiki (1986) features a Māori community opposing the private development of their ancestral land . 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
3744-408: The joys of being a long-term runner is that every season is an experiment, a new experience. Year by year, you test your changing body, your mind's ingenuity, and your spirit's resilience against each inevitable stage of getting older. Those who choose to retire at their peak may think they evade the losses time brings, but they can only look back, not forward. They miss this ongoing journey, which truly
3822-407: The land and the sea. After the closure of the local freezing works , Hemi has no job and they focus on taking care of the land. Toko has visions, however, of future conflict. Later in the novel, developers attempt to acquire land to build an access road to a new beach resort, which would destroy the community's cemetery and meeting house. The community refuses and the developers react by burning down
3900-582: 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 ), New Zealand's most valuable short-story prize. In 2024, a new collection of short stories by Grace was published, titled Bird Child and Other Stories . Her granddaughter Miriama Grace-Smith designed the cover artwork. It is her first new short story collection in seventeen years. When readers of Newsroom were asked to share their thoughts on Grace to enter
3978-422: The marae, and then again with violence as foreseen by Toko, and Toko himself is killed in the final conflict. At the end of the novel, we learn that Toko was narrating as a spirit from within the new marae, and the community begins to rebuild. The book is narrated by different voices, including most notably Toko, his aunt Roimata and his uncle Hemi, and has a non-linear spiral-like structure. Grace intentionally set
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#17330846341724056-413: The novel "offers a timely insight into contemporary issues", highlighting its focus on Māori perception of the natural world and its relevance to contemporary issues of capitalism and climate change. Patricia Grace Patricia Frances Grace DCNZM QSO ( née Gunson ; born 17 August 1937) is a New Zealand writer of novels, short stories, and children's books. She began writing as
4134-545: The novel "remains both a popular success and a reference point for discussion of Māori writing and international postcolonial fiction". The novel received third place 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 LiBeraturpreis [ de ] award in Germany. Some critics viewed the novel as a political work; Beston in his Landfall review suggested that "having sought previously to soothe her Pakeha readers and to suppress her anger, [Grace]
4212-468: The novel out as though it was a whaikōrero (formal speech), following the standard format in Māori oratory: beginning with a chant, then greetings, then telling the story, and at the end finishing with "Ka huri" (sometimes translated as "spread the word" or "over to you", signalling that it is now the turn of the next speaker to tell their story). The story of Toko reflects that of Māui , the hero of Māori mythology, through factors like his relationship with
4290-420: The novel ranked 12th on The Spinoff ' s list of favourite New Zealand books over the last 50 years as voted by readers, and third on an equivalent list voted by 50 literary experts. In 2016 a sculpture honouring Grace was unveiled on the Porirua Writers' Walk on the shore of Titahi Bay , inscribed with the following quote from Potiki : Morning came slowly giving outline to the sea and hills, patterning
4368-405: The real cut and paste", then typed up the work on a portable typewriter. On taking up the fellowship at Victoria she had access to a computer and was able to complete the manuscript using it. The novel tells the story of a Māori family's attempts to preserve their ancestral land and heritage. The term potiki can mean "youngest child" or "last-born child" in te reo Māori (the Māori language), and
4446-538: The release of a new novel by Grace was "one of the more significant events in [New Zealand's] literary calendar". Her sixth novel, Tu (2004), was based on the experiences of the Māori Battalion in Italy during the Second World War , 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
4524-474: 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 . Joy Harjo , who nominated Grace for the Neustadt Prize, has said of her writing: "Grace's stories make a shining and enduring place formed of the brilliant weave of Maori oral storytelling and contained within
4602-465: 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
4680-628: 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 , which she described as a "great honour". 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
4758-486: The sea, his unusual birth and other symbols. He is also sometimes described as a Jesus Christ –like figure; as academic Roger Robinson notes, Toko's birth parents are a woman called Mary and (possibly) a man called Joseph, and Toko's sacrifice leads to renewal for the community. The first edition of Potiki was published by Penguin Books New Zealand in 1986. By 1998 it had sold over 25,000 copies, making it one of
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#17330846341724836-520: The shape of contemporary Western forms. We are welcomed in, and when we get up to leave, we have been well fed, we have made friends and family, and we are bound to understanding and knowledge of one another." Grace received an honorary Doctorate of Letters (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
4914-572: The squares of houses, moulding the rocks, the power poles and the low scrub. A 2020 review in The Guardian observed that Potiki continues to be relevant long after its publication; in 2014 Grace successfully resisted the New Zealand Government's attempts to forcibly acquire land in Hongoeka to build an expressway. A review of the 2020 Penguin Classic edition in The Arts Desk noted that
4992-426: 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 , 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
5070-555: 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
5148-421: 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 , "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
5226-773: The surgeons who carried out the operations. In 2019 he established the Roger Robinson Scholarship for competitive runners at Victoria University. In February 2022, he held the over-80s New Zealand men's mile record, and in May 2022 won the men's over-80 category of the National Senior Games 10K in Florida. As of 2022 Robinson and Switzer divide their time between homes in New Paltz and New Zealand. Of continuing to race into his 80s, Robinson has said: I learn that one of
5304-417: The title refers to the character of Tokowaru-i-te-Marama (or Toko), a child who foresees and is impacted by the conflict over the land. Toko is a physically disabled child born to an intellectually disabled mother and an unknown father. He is adopted by his mother's brother Hemi and his wife Roimata, and raised with their three children James, Tangimoana, and Manu, in a small community with close connections to
5382-403: The top-selling New Zealand novels at that time and the first member of the "Penguin 25 Club". The novel was first published overseas by The Women's Press in London in 1987, and has subsequently been translated into seven languages. It is one of very few New Zealand books, and as of 2021 the only New Zealand book by a Māori author, to be translated into Portuguese. In 2020, it was re-published as
5460-652: Was a finalist for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2004. His work has been published in Landfall , The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography , The Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Poetry (1996) and Readings in Pacific Literature (1993). Robinson's 2003 book Running in Literature was the first to discuss running as a subject in literature. He was the scriptwriter for running documentary Marathon: A Hero's Journey (Cultural Horizons, 1990). In 2001, he
5538-408: Was also criticised by some publications, including Publishers Weekly , for using te reo Māori (the Māori language) without including a glossary. Grace explained: I'd had a glossary in a previous work and then I suddenly thought that a glossary is there for foreign languages, italics are there for foreign languages. I didn't want Māori to be treated as a foreign language in its own country. During
5616-578: Was appointed professor of English at Victoria University in Wellington . He served as dean and vice-chancellor of the university, and head of the English department, during his tenure. For many years, from the 1980s onwards, he divided his time between New Zealand and the United States, holding visiting academic positions at New York University and the Newberry Library in Chicago. In 1981, he founded
5694-577: 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 to produce Wahine Toa ,
5772-747: Was listed as an outstanding American sportswriter in The Best American Sports Writing . He wrote as a senior journalist for Running Times for many years, and received awards for this work; in 2007, he won the Les Diven Media Award for his coverage of the Boilermaker Road Race , and in 2010, he received an award for excellence in running journalism from the Road Runners Club of America . He has said of his literary work: "Without being pretentious, I want to show running as
5850-577: 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 in 1966. In 1979, South Pacific Television produced
5928-502: 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 and Briar Grace-Smith . Grace-Smith was previously married to Grace's son, and had attended
6006-503: 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
6084-530: Was republished in Britain by the Penguin Classics 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
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