Literature of the Pacific: Māori Author Witi Ihimaera

When Uncle Rangiora visits his sister and dances with her in the garden, she knows she has to visit the place where he died, and where he and other of his comrades from the Maori Battalion were buried during the Second World War. His sister is an old woman now, her husband is even older, but that's not going to stop them from setting off across the world alone, to the great consternation of their children who wonder if they will ever get there and back.

The remarkable story of Erenora is against the historical background of the turbulent and compelling events that occurred in Parihaka during the 1870s and 1880s. Parihaka is the place Erenora calls home, a peaceful Taranaki settlement overcome by war and land confiscation. As her world is threatened, Erenora must find within herself the strength, courage and ingenuity to protect those whom she loves.

A medicine woman - a giver of life - is asked to hide a secret that may protect a position in society, but could have fatal consequences. When she is approached by the servant of a wealthy woman, three very different women become players in a head-on clash of beliefs, deception and ultimate salvation.

Both fiction and fact, this fascinating book is a kaleidoscopic exploration of the Battle of Orakau. During three days in 1864, 300 Maori men, women and children fought an Imperial army and captured the imagination of the world. The battle marked the end of the Land Wars in the Waikato and resulted in vast tracts of land being confiscated for European settlement.

Adopted into a white family, Mika, a queer brown boy, learned Maori culture from the back of a cereal box. He discovered disco in the 1970s, worked with Carmen, Dalvanius Prime, and others to develop outrageous stage shows, and came out on screen with Harvey Keitel, playing a takatapui role in the film The Piano. Mika has never been in the closet: his life has been an ongoing production of both the fabulous and the revolutionary.

The Rope of Man is two books in one. The first book, Tangi, is set in 1973 and focuses on Tama Mahana, a young 20-year old newspaper reporter working in Wellington, as he attends his father's funeral in Waituhi. The second book, The Return is a sequel, set in 2005; Tama Mahana, now 52, is living in London and is a successful TV anchorman of an international news show.

Stroppy teenager Skylark O'Shea is on holiday with her mother at a town on the coast. But all is not what it seems. What is the threat facing the town and the birds of the forest? Where do the two old charismatic Maori women Hoki and Bella fit in?

Michael Mahana recovers the dairy of his Uncle Sam and embarks on a quest to discover more about his life and experiences as a solider who fought in the Vietnam War.

As her beloved grandfather, chief of the Maori tribe of Whangara, New Zealand, struggles to lead in difficult times and to find a male successor, young Kahu is developing a mysterious relationship with whales, particularly the ancient bull whale whose legendary rider was their ancestor.

Today is Titi's birthday. She is 160 years old, the oldest woman in the world. Titi has been at war all her life. It is about history, women, how nations are made and how the human spirit survives to carry us through into the new millennium.

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