Tā Pou Temara and Gregory O’Brien both take home awards from the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
We are proud to celebrate our two award-winning books at last night’s New Zealand Book Awards. Te Rautakitahi o Tūhoe ki Ōrākau by Tā Pou Temara won Te Mūrau o te Tuhi Māori Language Award, and Don Binney: Flight Path by Gregory O’Brien won the Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction.
Congratulations to all the winners and finalists! For more info, visit the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards website.
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He kau waka, he tohunga reo, he tamaiti o Ruatāhuna. Hihiri ana ngā whakanuia ki a Tā Pou!
Distinguished scholar, revered Waitangi Tribunal member, and esteemed member of Kīngi Tūheitia's ‘Council of Twelve,’ Tā Pou Temara KNZM (Ngāi Tūhoe), has been honoured with the prestigious 2024 Te Mūrau o te Tuhi Māori Language Award for his profound contribution through Te Rautakitahi O Tūhoe ki Ōrākau.
We are thrilled that the pioneering work Te Rautakitahi o Tūhoe ki Ōrākau by Sir William Te Rangiua ‘Pou’ Temara has been honoured with the prestigious Te Mūrau o te Tuhi, a discretionary Māori Language Award, at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2024.
Written in te reo Māori, Te Rautakitahi o Tūhoe ki Ōrākau delves into the significant contribution of Tūhoe in the battle of Ōrākau during the New Zealand Wars, based on the stories told to Tā Pou by his kaumātua.
Upon receiving his award Tā Pou recognised the significance of the win, not only for his book, but for the Māori language.
‘I am merely the hand that holds the pen that gives life to the Māori language,’ said Tā Pou in his acceptance speech.
Judge Paraone Gloyne (Raukawa ki Wharepūhunga, Ngāti Maniapoto) says the book is a valuable account exploring the big questions about the Tūhoe men and women who went to fight with Ngāti Maniapoto in the battle of Ōrākau during the New Zealand Wars.
‘Aotearoa is fortunate to have in its canon a book of this significance written by one of Aotearoa’s leading Māori public intellectuals,’ says Gloyne.
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Writer, poet and artist Gregory O’Brien has won the Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction for Don Binney: Flight Path.
Judger convenor Lynn Freeman says even as an experienced biographer, Gregory O’Brien has achieved a near impossible task in Don Binney: Flight Path.
‘He has encapsulated the artist’s full life, honestly portraying his often contrary personality, and carefully interrogating a formidably large body of work and its place in Aotearoa New Zealand’s art history.
‘O’Brien’s respect for Binney includes acknowledging that he could be both charming and curmudgeonly, and as a result he offers a complete picture of this complex and creative man. Equally compelling are the book’s faithfully reproduced artworks, exemplifying the best in design, layout and reproduction.’