Whale Rider

Witi Ihimaera became New Zealand’s first Māori novelist fifty years ago with Tangi, published in 1973. Since then, Ihimaera has become one of the world’s leading Indigenous writers, with four of his novels adapted into feature films. Among them is The Whale Rider, first published in 1989 and released as a feature film in 2002 to global acclaim. Acknowledged as a mentor of younger New Zealand writers, playwrights, editors, and filmmakers, his titles include The Matriarch (1986), Bulibasha (1994), The Uncle’s Story (2000, currently in feature film development), Sleeps Standing (2017, currently in feature film development), two memoirs, and a non-fiction history of Māori mythology. He is a multi-award winner in his own country and internationally, and the holder of a Premio Ostana (2010) and a Chevalier Des Arts et Lettres (2017). He lives in Auckland.

An Associate Professor in Te Kura Toi Tangata, Division of Education, Dr. Nicola Daly is a sociolinguist interested in the language hierarchies present in children’s literature. She is also interested in the pedagogical potential of picturebooks for social justice in educational contexts from early childhood settings through to tertiary contexts. She teaches courses in children’s literature and supervises Masters and PhD students in children’s literature and language-related topics. The main focus of her research is in the language used in children’s picturebooks. Her research has examined the use of Māori loanwords in New Zealand English picturebooks, and more recently has been analyzing the linguistic landscape of dual language picturebooks. She also has explored the link between national identity and children’s literature.