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From the Centre
A Writer's Life
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Brief Description
The remarkable memoirs of a remarkable writer. With photographs and quotes from her many, hugely loved books, Patricia Grace begins with her grandparents and parents and takes us through her childhood, her education, marriage, and up to the present day in this touching and self-deprecating story...
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Description
The remarkable memoirs of a remarkable writer.
With photographs and quotes from her many, hugely loved books, Patricia Grace begins with her grandparents and parents and takes us through her childhood, her education, marriage, and up to the present day in this touching and self-deprecating story of her life, the life of a writer, of a Māori woman, and of a teacher. It expresses the love for family and for ancestral land, shows the prejudices she had to face and that made her stronger, and tracks her career as a writer.
'We live by the sea, which hems and stitches the scalloped edges of the land.'
Renowned writer Patricia Grace begins her remarkable memoirs beside her beloved Hongoeka Bay. It is the place she has returned to throughout her life, and fought for, one of many battles she has faced.
'It was when I first went to school that I found out that I was a Maori girl . . . I found that being different meant that I could be blamed . . .'
As she shows, her experiences—good and bad, joyous and insightful—have fuelled what became a focus of her life.
'I had made up my mind that writing was something I would always do.'
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780143775614
Publisher: Penguin Group (NZ)
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 04 May 2021
Country: New Zealand
Imprint: Penguin Books (NZ)
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 26.0mm
Width: 145.0mm
Height: 216.0mm
Weight: 494g
Pages: 304
About the Author
Patricia Grace (Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa and Te Ati Awa) is one of New Zealand's most celebrated writers. She has published over 35 titles, including novels, short-story collections, works of non-fiction and books for children, a number of which have been translated into te reo Maori. Among numerous awards, she won the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards in 1986 for the much-loved Potiki, which also won the New Zealand Fiction Award in 1987. She was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2001 with Dogside Story, which won the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Fiction Prize. Tu won the 2005 Montana New Zealand Book Awards Fiction Prize and the Deutz Medal for Fiction and Poetry. She was also awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, Oklahoma, in 2008. Her children's story The Kuia and the Spider won the Children's Picture Book of the Year and she has also won the New Zealand Book Awards For Children and Young Adults Te Kura Pounamu Award. Patricia was born in Wellington and lives in Plimmerton on ancestral land, in close proximity to her home marae at Hongoeka Bay. Her book Cousins was made into an internationally-acclaimed film in 2021, directed by daughter in law Briar Grace-Smith and Ainsley Gardiner.
Also by Patricia Grace
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Te Kuia me te Pūngawerewere/The Kuia and the Spider
In Te Kuia me te Pūngawerewere/The Kuia and the Spider by Patricia Grace, a delightful tale unfolds, depicting the gentle rivalry between a kuia (elder woman) and a particularly talented spider. The kuia diligently spends her time weaving intricate mats and baskets, a craft imbued with tradition and skill, while the spider crafts her delicate web in the corner of...Paperback$1900Elsewhere:$2100Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Te Tuna Watakirihi Me Nga Tamariki O Te Tiriti O Toa/Watercress Tuna and the Children of Champion Street
Te Tuna Watakirihi Me Nga Tamariki O Te Tiriti O Toa/Watercress Tuna and the Children of Champion Street by Patricia Grace, with illustrations by Robyn Kahukiwa, is a timeless and enchanting picture book that has been cherished since its original publication in 1984. This bilingual Maori-English edition, translated into te reo Maori by Hirini Melbourne, brings the beloved tale to...Paperback$1999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 1 week -
Bird Child and Other Stories
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Cousins
One of Patricia Grace's most popular novels. Now a feature film, this is the unforgettable story of three women's intersecting lives. Makareta is the chosen one - carrying her family's hopes. Missy is the observer - the one who accepts but has her dreams. Mata is always waiting - for life to happen as it stealthily passes by. Moving from...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Tu
In this new novel, acclaimed Maori novelist Patricia Grace visits the often terrifying and complex world faced by men of the Maori Battalion in Italy during the Second World War. Tu is proud of his name—the Maori god of war. But for the returned soldier, there's a shadow over his own war experience with the Maori Battalion in Italy. Three...Paperback$3600Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Electric City
Electric City is a powerful collection of stories shortlisted for the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Award. These are short stories about ordinary folk leading seemingly ordinary lives, where the power of community, extended family, and culture are central to all. The thirteen stories illustrate how the joys of discovery are tempered by the knowledge of a harder, colder world. Sunlight,...Paperback$2700Elsewhere:$3000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Pre-orderPotiki
Patricia Grace's timeless novel bound in a beautifully crafted, clothbound hardback edition for the Penguin Modern Aotearoa Classics series "...a book that has a simplicity that can break your heart and a complexity that can dazzle your mind and, for me, stands as Patricia Grace's towering achievement." Andy Barnes, Belletrista A stunning foil-stamped hardback cover makes this edition of Patricia Grace's...Hardback$3299Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Collected Stories: Patricia Grace
Collected Stories: Patricia Grace is a mesmerising anthology that captures the heart and essence of New Zealand's vibrant cultural landscape. Renowned for her extraordinary storytelling prowess, Patricia Grace delves deep into the lives, traditions, and experiences of the Maori community, weaving rich and compelling narratives that resonate with authenticity and emotional depth. This collected edition brings together all the stories...PaperbackSold Out -
Potiki
A spellbinding story of a community defending their land, by one of New Zealand's most established contemporary writers. Destroy the land and sea, we destroy ourselves On the remote coast of New Zealand, at the curve that binds land and sea, a small Māori community live, work, fish, play, and tell stories of their ancestors. But something is changing. The...PaperbackSold Out -
Cousins
A reprint of one of Patricia Grace's best-loved novels about three girls and what happens as they grow up. Cousins is a stunning novel of tradition and change, of the whanau and its struggle to survive, of the place of women in a changing world. It is an engrossing story that runs on in the head long after it has...PaperbackSold Out -
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An absorbing New Zealand tale of the Kuia (a grandmother) and the spider, The Kuia and The Spider is ideal for reading aloud.PaperbackSold Out -
Dogside Story
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