Ihimaera honoured with PM’s award for a storytelling legacy

Witi Ihimaera

GISBORNE'S literary legend Witi Ihimaera has been awarded a Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement worth $60,000.

Literary historian and fine arts writer Peter Simpson, and poet and children’s author Paula Green, also received the award.

Arts Council chairman Michael Moynahan says this year’s recipients have been recognised for their legacy of achievement.

“As leaders in their respective crafts, they have engaged New Zealand readers with their storytelling and have inspired other New Zealand writers to build on their literary legacy,” he said.

Ihimaera, 73, will be honoured for fiction, Simpson for non-fiction and Green for poetry.

Ihimaera was described by the selection panel as one of the country’s most important post-colonial writers and a voice for Maori.

Green stood out as an “all-rounder” and a significant poet, anthologist and commentator.

Simpson was described as a prolific writer and historian who has contributed to the nation’s literary culture over many years.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony at Premier House in Wellington next week. This year’s Creative New Zealand Michael King Writer’s Fellowship winner, Philip Norman, will also be honoured.

The Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement were established in 2003.