Marlborough Book Festival - Whiti Hereaka

Legacy - An Hour with Whiti Hereaka - Whiti Hereaka in conversation with Kate De Goldi

Whiti Hereaka is an award-winning novelist and playwright of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa and Pākehā descent, who captures life as a teenager in Aotearoa with authenticity, empathy and humour.

In her latest novel Legacy, 17-year-old Riki time travels to experience his great-great-grandfather’s life as a member of the Māori Contingent in World War I.

In Bugs, three friends work through the challenges and options (or lack of them) of their final years at high school. With Kate De Goldi, Whiti discusses the story behind her novels and how she’s helping emerging authors write and publish their stories too.

Based in Wellington, Whiti has been involved with Te Papa Tupu, an incubator programme for Māori writers, as a writer, a mentor and a judge.