11 July 2023
Can't decide what to read over the over the long Matariki weekend? Not to worry, we asked our Writers Programme Co-Curators, Anne-Marie Te Whiu and Claire Mabey for their recommendations. Scroll down to check them out and add to your bedside book pile.
Anne and Claire also recommended this Maramataka wall planner for 2023-2024 which will help design your life using ancient Māori lunar knowledge to enhance your life in balance with nature.
WHAKAWHETAI: Gratitude
by Hira Nathan
A beautiful bilingual gratitude journal to help improve your te reo and your life.
Kia ū ki te pai, kia whai hua ai.
Hold on to what is good and good things will follow.
The Artist
by Ruby Solly
In a Southern land, where the veil of time and space has worn thin, twins with otherworldly ways are born to a stone carver and his wife. As they grow into themselves, the landscape and its histories will rise up to meet them and change their whānau forever.
Matariki: The Star of the Year
by Rangi Matamua
In mid-winter, Matariki rises in the pre-dawn sky, and its observation is celebrated with incantations on hilltops at dawn, balls, exhibitions, dinners and a vast number of events. The Matariki tradition has been re-established, and its regeneration coincides with a growing interest in Māori astronomy. Still, there remain some unanswered questions about how Matariki was traditionally observed.
Based on research and interviews with Māori experts, this book explores what Matariki was in a traditional sense so it can be understood and celebrated in contemporary society.
Kurangaituku is the story of Hatupatu told from the perspective of the traditional ‘monster’, Kurangaituku, the bird woman. In the traditional story, told from the view of Hatupatu, he is out hunting and is captured by a creature that is part bird and part woman. The bird woman imprisons him in her cave in the mountains. Hatupatu eventually escapes and is pursued by Kurangaituku. He evades her when he leaps over hot springs, but Kurangaituku goes into them and dies.
WINNER of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, 2022.
