Māori Authors (YA)

If you’re looking for fiction written by Māori authors, for NCEA or just because they’re good, here are a few we recommend, along with one or two of their books (most have many more!). Note: we’d love to add to this – if you’ve got a favourite Māori author not here then email us their name and we’ll add them!

Updated June 19, 2024
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Wellington City LibrariesYouth team at Wellington City Libraries
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Once were warriors
Duff, Alan
Paper Book
Once Were Warriors is Alan Duff's harrowing vision of his country's indigenous people two hundred years after the English conquest. In prose that is both raw and compelling, it tells the story of Beth Heke, a Maori woman struggling to keep her family from falling apart, despite the squalor and...
Black marks on the white page
Ihimaera, Witi
Paper Book
A stunning collection of Oceanic stories for the 21st century. Stones move, whale bones rise out of the ground like cities, a man figures out how to raise seven daughters alone. Sometimes gods speak or we find ourselves in a not-too-distant future. Here are the glorious, painful,...
The whale rider
Ihimaera, Witi
Paper Book
Eight-year-old Kahu, a member of the Maori tribe of Whangara, New Zealand, fights to prove her love, her leadership, and her destiny. Her people claim descent from Kahutia Te Rangi, the legendary "whale rider." In every generation since Kahutia, a male heir has inherited the title of chief. But...
Dark souls : a novel
Morris, Paula.
Paper Book
Welcome to York, England. Mist lingers in the streets. Narrow buildings cast long shadows. This is the most haunted city in the world. . . . Miranda Tennant arrives in York with a terrible, tragic secret. She is eager to lose herself amid the quaint cobblestones, hoping...
Call me Evie
Pomare, J. P
Paper Book
A seventeen-year-old struggles to remember the tragic night that changed her life forever in this twist-filled debut novel of psychological suspense for fans of Sharp Objects and The Last Time I Lied. Evie and her uncle Jim have just moved to an isolated cabin in a...
In the clearing
Pomare, J. P
Audiobook
A ticking-clock thriller that braids together the stories of a girl raised in a terrifying cult, and of an overprotective single mother whose fears for her child are about to come true. Amy has only ever known what life is like in the Clearing, with her brothers and sisters--until a...
Greta & Valdin
Reilly, Rebecca K
Paper Book
A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR * A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE * AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR "A heartfelt portrait of a complex family." --People * "Laugh-out-loud-funny." --Harper's Bazaar *...

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