Hone Tuwhare

Hone Tuwhare (1922-2008) was a noted Maori poet from New Zealand, born at Kaikohe in Northland into the Ngapuhi tribe. He trained as a boilermaker with the New Zealand Railways before turning seriously to writing, and his first collection, No Ordinary Sun (1964), became one of the most widely read books of poetry in the country's history. Critics saw his work as a new departure because of its distinctly Maori perspective and its easy move between formal and vernacular registers. He was named the second Te Mata Poet Laureate in 1999, received a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2003, and his poem Rain was voted New Zealand's favourite in 2007.