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Witi Ihimaera has been writing for thirty years. He is one of New Zealand's most published authors, and is one of the few writers ever to have won the Montana book award twice. He has written short stories, novels, opera and films. He has credits and accolades from all round the world and won the Katherine Mansfield scholarship to spend a year writing in Menton France. His CV is spectacular. He has served in Foreign Affairs representing New Zealand in Australia and America and was New Zealand Consul in New York. He is currently teaching at Auckland University.
This video is an insight into Witi's world. Witi, the Maori, Gay, Writer, who teaches at University, loves to run, is an opera and film buff and will dance till dawn.
It charts his journey from his rural upbringing in the Waiotuhi valley on the East Coast of New Zealand to New York, Paris, Washington and Menton. Once a country boy, now an urbane cosmopolitan.
The video describes how Witi uses his experiences of being on the outside – a Maori boy, a gay man – to inform everything he writes. For Witi the same issues of sovereignty are common to both, but he does admit that if he had to choose, his cultural registration is more important than his sexual registration. He feels he responsibility inherent in being a voice for both groups, but embraces it and acknowledges his driving artistic force is to tell the Maori story the Maori way.
Produced by Seannachie Productions for TVNZ.
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