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Te Kaikaukau | The Swimmer
I te Ao o te Reo
Brief Description
Novelist, memoirist and playwright Witi Ihimaera – author of Pounamu, Pounamu and The Whale Rider – decided, at the age of eighty, to dive back into the water and spend a year full-time at Te Wānanga Takiura, immersing himself in his own language, in te reo...
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Te Kaikaukau | The Swimmer
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New Zealand’s leading Māori writer decides at eighty to go back and learn his own language – and write about it.
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Description
Novelist, memoirist and playwright Witi Ihimaera – author of Pounamu, Pounamu and The Whale Rider – decided, at the age of eighty, to dive back into the water and spend a year full-time at Te Wānanga Takiura, immersing himself in his own language, in te reo Māori.
This book tells the story of this kaikaukau, this swimmer, and his year i te ao o te reo – of sinking and floating; of loss and shame, connection and wairua; of fathers and teachers, kuia and friends.
A riveting and revealing memoir, Te Kaikaukau | The Swimmer sparkles with whaikōrero and whakataukī and is written for all – Māori and Pākehā, fluent reo Māori speakers and those for whom the language is still a mystery, a dream, an aspiration.
It is the story of a Māori New Zealander reclaiming his voice, history and whakapapa in contemporary Aotearoa. Of becoming Witi Ihimaera Smiler and drawing closer to his desire to write a novel in te reo for his beloved father Tom and his tīpuna.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781776712380
Publisher: Auckland University Press
Book cover type: Hardcover
Genre: Biography, Education
Language version: ENG- English
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 14 May 2026
Country: New Zealand
Imprint: Auckland University Press
Illustration: 14 colour illustrations (photographs)
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 152.0mm
Height: 228.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 340
Collections
2025 Best Sellers
2026 Auckland Writers Festival
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Biography & Memoir
Festival New Zealand Writers
Festival Non-Fiction
In Stock Books
Musicians, Movie Stars & Creative Biographies
New Release Books
New Release Non-Fiction
New Zealand and Australia Published
New Zealand Biographies
New Zealand Non-Fiction
New Zealand Published
Non-Fiction
Witi Ihimaera
Witi Ihimaera Smiler
About the Author
Witi Ihimaera Smiler DCNZM, QSM, was born in Gisborne and is of Te Whānau-a-Kai, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Rongowhakaata and Ngāti Porou descent with connections to Tūhoe, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāi Tāmanuhiri. Diplomat, professor and one of Aotearoa’s most distinguished living writers, his many books include Pounamu, Pounamu (1972), The Matriarch (1986) and The Whale Rider (1987), made into a hugely successful film in 2002 and also translated into te reo Māori by Tīmoti Kāretu. He has received numerous awards, including the Wattie Book of the Year, the Montana Book Award and a Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement. In 2004 he became a Distinguished Companion of the Order of New Zealand and in 2017 France made him Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He is, today, recognised as one of the world’s leading contemporary indigenous authors and thinkers. He lives in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.
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