Witi Ihimaera celebrates his 50th Anniversary as a novelist in 2023. Recognised as one of the world’s leading indigenous writers he has been speaking in Australia, Sweden, Finland, Canada and the USA and, forthcoming is a month long tour of France and French Polynesia. His latest books are Tangi (new revised edition), A Kind of Shelter (anthology with co-editor Michelle Elvy), the te reo edition of Pounamu, Pounamu, and a two volume anthology of Maori writing,  Nga Kupu Wero and Te Awa O Kupu (with Vaughan Rapatahana, Kiri Piahana-Wong and Jacinta Ruru).

A hard working author, his next books are Ariā and the Kumara God (children’s picture book, second in The Astromancer Trilogy) and Metura’a, the sequel to The Whale Rider. He is Patron of Kotahi Rau Pukapuka Trust and Honorary President of the New Zealand Society of Authors. He lives in Auckland.