New Zealand literature is literature,both oral and written,produced by the people of New Zealand. It often deals with New Zealand themes,people or places,is written predominantly in New Zealand English,and features Māori culture and the use of the Māori language. Before the arrival and settlement of Europeans in New Zealand in the 19th century,Māori culture had a strong oral tradition. Early European settlers wrote about their experiences travelling and exploring New Zealand. The concept of a "New Zealand literature",as distinct from English literature,did not originate until the 20th century,when authors began exploring themes of landscape,isolation,and the emerging New Zealand national identity. Māori writers became more prominent in the latter half of the 20th century,and Māori language and culture have become an increasingly important part of New Zealand literature.
David Geary is a Māori writer from New Zealand who is known for his plays The Learners Stand,Lovelocks Dream Run and Pack of Girls. For television he has written for New Zealand series Shortland Street and Jackson's Wharf.
Bruce Edward George Mason was a significant playwright in New Zealand who wrote 34 plays and influenced the cultural landscape of the country through his contribution to theatre. In 1980,he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The Bruce Mason Playwriting Award,one of the most important playwrighting accolades in New Zealand,is named in his honour. Mason was also an actor,critic,and fiction writer.
Hone Vivian Kouka is a New Zealand playwright. He has written 13 plays,which have been staged in New Zealand and worldwide including Canada,South Africa,New Caledonia and Britain. Kouka's plays have won multiple awards at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards,the 'Oscars' of New Zealand theatre. Kouka has also worked as a theatre director and producer. In 2009,Kouka was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit,for services to contemporary Māori theatre.
Briar Grace-Smith is a screenwriter,director,actor,and short story writer from New Zealand. She has worked as an actor and writer with the Maori theatre cooperative Te Ohu Whakaari and Maori theatre company He Ara Hou. Early plays Don't Call Me Bro and Flat Out Brown,were first performed at the Taki Rua Theatre in Wellington in 1996. Waitapu,a play written by Grace-Smith,was devised by He Ara Hou and performed by the group on the Native Earth Performing Arts tour in Canada in 1996.
Renée Gertrude Taylor,known professionally as Renée,was a New Zealand feminist writer,playwright,novelist and short story writer. She started writing plays in her 50s,with her first play,Setting the Table,written in 1981,and with her most well-known works being the trilogy of plays beginning with Wednesday to Come (1984). Renée described herself as a "lesbian feminist with socialist working-class ideals",and her plays feature strong female characters who are often working class.
April Phillips is an actress,writer,singer,director and producer of film and theatre. She was born in Coventry,England,but resides in Wellington,New Zealand. Her production company,Godiva Productions Limited,was named after the Lady Godiva legend of her hometown of Coventry.
Mīria George is a New Zealand writer,producer and director of Māori and Cook Island descent. Best known for being the author of award-winning stage plays,George has also written radio,television and poetry,and was one of the film directors of the portmanteau film Vai. In November 2005,she won the Emerging Pacific Artist's Award at the Arts Pasifika Awards. Mīria George was the first Cook Islands artist to receive the Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer's Residency at the University of Hawai'i.
Lynda Chanwai-Earle is a New Zealand writer and radio producer. Her written work includes plays,poems and film scripts. The play Ka Shue –Letters Home in 1996 is semi-autobiographical and is significant in New Zealand literature as the first authentically New Zealand–Chinese play for mainstream audiences.
Sarah Delahunty is a New Zealand writer and director who was born in Wellington. An award-winning playwright,Delahunty has written over 30 plays,often focussing on works for youth.
Courtney Sina Meredith is a New Zealand poet,playwright,and short story author.
Albert Alexander Amahou Belz is a New Zealand actor,writer and lecturer.
Tracey Slaughter is a New Zealand writer and poet.
Tina Makereti is a New Zealand novelist,essayist,and short story writer,editor and creative writing teacher. Her work has been widely published and she has been the recipient of writing residencies in New Zealand and overseas. Her book Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa won the inaugural fiction prize at the NgāKupu Ora Māori Book Awards in 2011,and Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings won the NgāKupu Ora Aotearoa Māori Book Award for Fiction in 2014. She lives on the Kāpiti Coast,New Zealand.
Whiti Hereaka is a New Zealand playwright,novelist and screenwriter and a barrister and solicitor. She has held a number of writing residencies and appeared at literary festivals in New Zealand and overseas,and several of her books and plays have been shortlisted for or won awards. In 2022 her book Kurangaituku won the prize for fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and Bugs won an Honour Award in the 2014 New Zealand Post Awards for Children and Young Adults. She lives in Wellington,New Zealand.
The CLNZ Writers’Award is made annually with the support of the Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) Cultural Fund. It is open to New Zealand writers of non-fiction,including educational material.
Adrienne Jansen is a New Zealand creative writing teacher,editor and a writer of fiction,non-fiction and poetry. She has worked closely with immigrants,and her writing often relates to the migrant experience.
Taki Rua is a theatre organisation based in Wellington,New Zealand that has produced many contemporary Māori theatre productions. Taki Rua has been going since 1983 and has had several name changes over that time including The New Depot,Depot Theatre and Taki Rua / The Depot. The full current name is Taki Rua Productions. Since inception the mission of Taki Rua has been to showcase work from New Zealand. Because of this and the longevity of Taki Rua many significant New Zealand actors,directors,writers,designers and producers have part of the history including Riwia Brown,Nathaniel Lees,Rachel House and Taika Waititi.
The Adam NZ Play Award is an annual award in New Zealand given to new plays. There are a range of categories and submitted plays are read blind by a panel of industry professionals.
Renee Wen-Wei Liang is a New Zealand paediatrician,poet,essayist,short story writer,playwright,librettist,theatre producer and medical researcher. She has been the recipient of several awards for her services to arts,science and medicine and is also noted for her services to the Chinese New Zealand community. She lives in Auckland.
