Whiti Hereaka

She has held a number of writing residencies and appeared at literary festivals in New Zealand and overseas, and several of her books and plays have been shortlisted for or won awards.

[3][4] Her favourite childhood reading included books by Roald Dahl, the Narnia series, Anne of Green Gables, Tanglewood Tales and The Moomins.

[2] She is a barrister and solicitor[1] and holds a Masters in Creative Writing (Scriptwriting) from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington.

[5][3] In 2022, she was appointed as a permanent, fulltime lecturer in the creative writing programme at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa / Massey University.

[27][28] This book is about the Te Awara Māori legend of Hatupatu from the point of view of the bird-woman Kurangaituku.

A dashingly made up women with short blond curly hair is behind a microphone reading from her book. Her outfit includes feathered wings.
Whiti Hereaka does a reading at the launch of her book Kurangaituku at Meow Bar in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand on 1 December 2021