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Nga Kupu Wero
Ngā Kupu Wero brings together a bounty of essays, articles, commentary and creative non-fiction on the political, cultural and social issues that challenge us today. From colonisation to identity, from creativity to mātauranga Māori, over 60 writers explore the power of the word. Accept the challenge of the wero. Join the kōrero.Ngā Kupu Wero is a companion volume to Te Awa o Kupu, which presents recent poetry and fiction. Together these two passionate and vibrant anthologies reveal that the irrepressible river of words flowing from Māori writers today shows us who and what we are.
- GenresNonfictionAnthologies
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About the author
Witi Ihimaera
86 books356 followersWiti Ihimaera is a novelist and short story writer from New Zealand, perhaps the best-known Māori writer today. He is internationally famous for The Whale Rider.
Ihimaera lives in New Zealand and is of Māori descent and Anglo-Saxon descent through his father, Tom. He attended Church College of New Zealand in Temple View, Hamilton, New Zealand. He was the first Māori writer to publish both a novel and a book of short stories. He began to work as a diplomat at the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1973, and served at various diplomatic posts in Canberra, New York, and Washington, D.C. Ihimaera remained at the Ministry until 1989, although his time there was broken by several fellowships at the University of Otago in 1975 and Victoria University of Wellington in 1982 (where he graduated with a BA).[1] In 1990, he took up a position at the University of Auckland, where he became Professor, and Distinguished Creative Fellow in Māori Literature. He retired from this position in 2010.
In 2004, his nephew Gary Christie Lewis married Lady Davina Windsor, becoming the first Māori to marry into the British Royal Family.
Ihimaera lives in New Zealand and is of Māori descent and Anglo-Saxon descent through his father, Tom. He attended Church College of New Zealand in Temple View, Hamilton, New Zealand. He was the first Māori writer to publish both a novel and a book of short stories. He began to work as a diplomat at the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1973, and served at various diplomatic posts in Canberra, New York, and Washington, D.C. Ihimaera remained at the Ministry until 1989, although his time there was broken by several fellowships at the University of Otago in 1975 and Victoria University of Wellington in 1982 (where he graduated with a BA).[1] In 1990, he took up a position at the University of Auckland, where he became Professor, and Distinguished Creative Fellow in Māori Literature. He retired from this position in 2010.
In 2004, his nephew Gary Christie Lewis married Lady Davina Windsor, becoming the first Māori to marry into the British Royal Family.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 31, 2023
The starting point of getting to know Māori.
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September 25, 2023stunning, like a blow from an {adze}. it is one thing to know that there is something more colourful than grey, quite, quite another to find it proudly standing among all the other books at the library. quite another to find it breathing.
my favourite book i've read all year. i doubt anything in my reading pile for '23 will top it. essential reading for all pākeha who want to give knowing a go.
genuinely more radical and lively than many of the explicitly anarchist texts i have read. i firmly believe that any successful attempt to uproot capitalism from this land will be navigated by tangata whenua.
my favourite book i've read all year. i doubt anything in my reading pile for '23 will top it. essential reading for all pākeha who want to give knowing a go.
genuinely more radical and lively than many of the explicitly anarchist texts i have read. i firmly believe that any successful attempt to uproot capitalism from this land will be navigated by tangata whenua.
March 5, 2024
A must- read if you want to visit Aotearoa New Zealand. Or if you simply want to challenge your perspective and broaden your your horizons and check your privilege. Of if you interested in how language shapes culture, community, thinking. Or how colonialism and racism shapes Aotearoas history and present. Or if you want to read a book full of splendid short essays.
“The predominant western conceptualisation of the world as being based on capital and neoliberal ideology is only one way of structuring our societies. Indigenous traditions remind us that there are numerous other options, other possibilities of working together, of organizing and understanding the world we live in, that when you regard your very home as part of the natural world around you, global destruction is not inevitable.”
“Metaphors. Discreet and gentle, overt and awesome, meanings rich with imagery: we are water, we are earth, we are air, we are everything. This is the essence of the wānanga, the deepest knowledge of te wā, totality of time and space, that we command with mana kapu, with the power of words.”
“The feeling of my brain unfolding exponentially when I encounter an outstanding poem is the feeling of being woke. As a poet and a hungry reader of poetry, I find there is nothing that quite matches that moment when comprehension meets complexity meets cognitive dissonance and the whole lot gallops into the glorious sublime- taking me for a ride on the splendid and winged unimaginable.”
“The predominant western conceptualisation of the world as being based on capital and neoliberal ideology is only one way of structuring our societies. Indigenous traditions remind us that there are numerous other options, other possibilities of working together, of organizing and understanding the world we live in, that when you regard your very home as part of the natural world around you, global destruction is not inevitable.”
“Metaphors. Discreet and gentle, overt and awesome, meanings rich with imagery: we are water, we are earth, we are air, we are everything. This is the essence of the wānanga, the deepest knowledge of te wā, totality of time and space, that we command with mana kapu, with the power of words.”
“The feeling of my brain unfolding exponentially when I encounter an outstanding poem is the feeling of being woke. As a poet and a hungry reader of poetry, I find there is nothing that quite matches that moment when comprehension meets complexity meets cognitive dissonance and the whole lot gallops into the glorious sublime- taking me for a ride on the splendid and winged unimaginable.”
September 30, 2025
A great insight into Te ao Māori and struggles faced both in the past and today in New Zealand. The book consists of many Māori voices but carries similar themes throughout their story telling. I finished reading this book while overseas, at the same time the November 2025 Hikoi was taking place. I wish I could’ve been there to march with my people but having this book felt like a piece of home. Albeit it was quite the saddening experience reading these stories while back home Māori were and are still fighting for justice.
I was inclined to read this because I am Māori and am interested in te ao Māori but I implore pakeha to read this too. Many of these challenges I was already aware of but still, quite eye opening.
I was inclined to read this because I am Māori and am interested in te ao Māori but I implore pakeha to read this too. Many of these challenges I was already aware of but still, quite eye opening.
January 5, 2024
This collection of essays, opinions are a powerfully modern account of the anatomy of current and prospective decolonisation in Aotearoa. It is particularly readable if you're someone who loses interest quickly in a single story line. I enjoyed that the book is inclusive in a literary and literal sense.
December 30, 2023
Important, essential learnings on every page.
August 18, 2024
Loved this collection of insights from Māori writers
October 4, 2024
Very lucky to have picked this up. I hope I can keep re-reading it. Gave/gives me hope for people here. Exciting. Just what I had no idea I needed.
February 12, 2026
A great collection!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews