Apirana Taylor

Apirana Taylor
Taylor in 1996
Taylor in 1996
Born (1955-03-15) 15 March 1955 (age 69)
Wellington, New Zealand
OccupationPoet, novelist
Period1979–2004
RelativesRangimoana Taylor (brother), Riwia Brown (sister)

Apirana Taylor (born 15 March 1955) is a New Zealand writer known for his poetry, short stories, novels and plays.

Biography

Born in Wellington 15 March 1955, Apirana Taylor is of Pākehā and Māori descent with affiliations to Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Ngāti Ruanui.[1]

Taylor was a runner-up for the Pegasus Book Award in 1985, for He Rau Aroha: A Hundred Leaves of Love.[2]

He was a prominent member of the Māori theatre cooperative Te Ohu Whakaari alongside his brother Rangimoana Taylor, who founded the group, and their sister Riwia Brown. Plays of Taylors that Te Ohu Whakaari presented included Kohanga about the kohanga reo movement of Māori language revival and Te Whānau a Tuanui Jones.[3][4] Kohanga was awarded 'best debut play' by the Dominion Post.[4]

Works

Taylor has published three volumes of poetry – Eyes of the Ruru (1979), Soft Leaf Falls of the Moon (1997) and Te Ata Kura; the red-tipped dawn (2004); three short-story collections; a novel, He Tangi Aroha (1993); 3 CDs (two are poetry with music, the other is children’s stories)[5] and two plays.

Taylor's play Whaea Kairau: Mother Hundred Eater (1995) first produced by Taki Rua is described as a 'seminal Maori theatre work'. The play is an epic story set in the late 1840s in New Zealand, the central character is a dispossessed Irish woman and family.[6]

Poetry by Taylor was included in UPU, a curation of Pacific Island writers’ work which was first presented at the Silo Theatre as part of the Auckland Arts Festival in March 2020.[7] UPU was remounted as part of the Kia Mau Festival in Wellington in June 2021.[8]

Awards

Taylor received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2024.[9]

Selected works

  • 3 shades, poetry by Apirana Taylor, Lindsay Rabbitt, L.E. Scott; with an introduction by Alan Loney, Wellington: Voice Press, 1981
  • Ki te ao: new stories, Penguin Books, 1990
  • Whakapapa, audio CD selection of Taylor's poems published over the past 25 years plus a few, possibly new publications, read by Taylor, early-mid(?) 2001.[10][11][12][13]
  • Footprints in tears, thumbprints in blood, audio CD of mostly new poetry read and sung by Taylor to music, Apr.(?) 2004 (most of the poems are later included in Te ata kura = The red tipped dawn).[14][13]
  • Te ata kura = The red tipped dawn, Canterbury University Press, Nov. 2004[15]
  • A Canoe in Midstream, poetry, Canterbury University Press, 2009[4]
  • Five Strings, novel, Anahera Press, May 2017

References

  1. ^ Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English, Oxford University Press, 1997.
  2. ^ Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008
  3. ^ "First Māori theatre companies, 1970–1990". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Mark Derby and Briar Grace-Smith. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ a b c "Taylor, Apirana". Read NZ. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  5. ^ Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. "Writer's File: Apirana Taylor". Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  6. ^ "Play readings of Kohanga and Whaea Kairau". Auckland Live. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  7. ^ "UPU". Silo Theatre. March 2020. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  8. ^ "UPU". Kai Mau Festival. June 2021. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  9. ^ Chumko, Andre (13 December 2024). "Literary tōtara honoured in Wellington". www.thepost.co.nz. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  10. ^ National Library of New Zealand. "Article: A love affair with words". Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, National Library of New Zealand. National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  11. ^ National Library of New Zealand. "NEWSPAPER: A love affair with words". Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa/National Library of New Zealand. National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  12. ^ a b Underhill, Bridget. "Apirana Taylor, bibliography". Kōmako:A bibliography of writing by Māori in English. Kōmako. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  13. ^ University of Canterbury. "UC Library, Library Catalogue, Footprints in tears, thumbprints in blood". University of Canterbury, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, Christchurch New Zealand. University of Canterbury. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  14. ^ University of Canterbury. "te ata kura: the red-tipped dawn by Apirana Taylor (ebook)". University of Canterbury, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, Christchurch New Zealand. University of Canterbury. Retrieved 17 October 2024.