Witi Ihimaera is an award-winning writer of Māori descent. His first novel Tangi (1973), the first novel written by a Māori author, won New Zealand’s premier literary award of the time, the James Wattie Book of the Year Award (1974). Since then he has maintained an astonishing award-winning career, nationally and internationally, as one of New Zealand’s most important writers. Four of his books have been made into feature films, including the internationally acclaimed Whale Rider, which premiered in 2002. His titles continue to be translated for the world market, most recently the novella White Lies in an Amharic Semitic language (Ethiopian) edition.