Win a copy of Te Ara — Māori Pathways: Past, Present, Future (2010)

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Te Ara started life as accompanying an exhibition of photographs and taonga relating to Māori leadership in the past, present and future, curated by academic and museum director Paul Tapsell with distinguished photographer Krzysztof Pfeiffer. 

This colourful paperback has gone on to become a valued reference to contemporary Māori issues, appearing in three editions — all with English and Māori text, and then variously Polish, German and Musqueam (the First Nations language from the Vancouver area), reflecting some locations where the exhibition travelled.

See: https://www.oratia.co.nz/product/te-ara

The book developed alongside Oratia’s ongoing partnership with Paul and Krzysztof in the charitable venture Māori Maps (www.maorimaps.com), which seeks to help descendants connect with their ancestral marae. 

Later this year we’ll also be publishing Paul’s next book, written with Merata Kawharu — Whāriki: The re-emergence of Māori kin community entrepreneurship.

To be in to win a copy of Te Ara — Māori Pathways: Past, Present, Future, go to our Fb Page. 

Prize available to New Zealand residents only.

Competition closes on Monday 10 June, and winner announced on Tuesday 11 June.

Oratia Books Catalogue 2019 out now

The Oratia Books Catalogue 2019 is now available in print and PDF formats.

We're pleased to present 11 new books for this year, along with a growing back list.

Here's what the introduction says; click here to view the entire catalogue.

In 2019 Oratia Media marks ten years of publishing our own books, and our nineteenth year as a publishing and media business. To celebrate, Oratia Books brings you at least ten titles that encompass outstanding writing and illustration in both new and revised editions.

There’s a maritime theme in adult hardbacks, with Sir Bob Harvey’s much-awaited Sea Edge celebrating the Waitematā Harbour, and Gavin McLean’s Shipwrecked: New Zealand maritime disasters, while the pensive Home Child follows a group of children shipped from the UK for adoption on the other side of the world.

Our commitment to te Ao Māori deepens with new editions of classic works by Sir Hirini Moko Mead and A.W. Reed, Merata Kawharu and Paul Tapsell’s seminal work on entrepreneurship, and Darryn Joseph’s Whakarongo ki ō Tūpuna, written in te Reo with English translation.

Dawn McMillan and Ross Kinnaird put a new comic spin on the international bestseller I Need a New Bum! with a side-splitting sequel, and Tracy Duncan gives a makeover to the most popular of Melanie Drewery’s Nanny Mihi series. In July we launch the first two titles in The NZ Series, a new non-fiction collection for young adult readers, with works by Gordon Ell and Sarah Ell.

Oratia Books - Catalogue 2018

Click here to see and download the catalogue PDF

Haere atu rā Pā Henare Tate

It is with sadness that we share news of the passing of Pā Henare Tate (Ngāti Manawa, Te Rarawa), the author of He Puna Iti i te Ao Mārama.

Pā Tate passed away in Rawene, Northland on Saturday after a long illness.

A priest, whānau and community leader, Pā was a former lecturer at the Catholic Institute of Theology in Auckland. He earned a doctorate in theology from the Melbourne College of Divinity, which formed the basis for his book.

He Puna Iti i te Ao Mārama sets out the foundation for an indigenous Māori theology, integrating traditional and Christian beliefs to form a distinctively Māori response.

An intelligent, humane and warm man, and a superb speaker of Te Reo Māori, Pā will be much missed by all those who knew him.

His tangi is taking place at his home marae of Motutī, in the northern Hokianga.

Haere atu rā e mātua kei tua o te ārai. As you wrote in the introduction to your book:

Kua ū te waka ki uta ka titiro ki waho, ki te ara moana. 
The canoe has come ashore and one looks back on the ocean pathway. 

The meaning of Kaitangata, from A.W. Reed’s classic Māori Place Names

The South Otago town of Kaitangata has been in the news of late after a massive global response to its efforts to attract new residents with an offer of cheap housing, plentiful jobs and a friendly community. 

What about its name? In a literal translation 'kai' means food and 'tangata' means people, so an origin that has to do with cannibalism is likely. One version is that after a battle fought over eeling rights in the vicinity, the chief Mokomoko was killed an eaten by the victors. A more savoury (if that's the right word) explanation is that it was named after an ancestor who travelled on the Arai-te-uru canoe. 

Discover the Māori names and their meaning in the fully revised edition of A.W. Reed’s classic Māori Place Names.

US plaudits for Jeff Evans' Polynesian Navigation

A glowing review for Jeff Evans' Polynesian Navigation and the Discovery of New Zealand appears in the January edition of Midwest Book Review Bookwatch. Based in Oregon, US, MBR Bookwatch is an organisation committed to promoting literacy, library usage and small press publishing.

Reviewer Michael Dunford says of the book:
Exceptionally well written and illustrated with occasional black-and-white period photography, Polynesian Navigation and the Discovery Of New Zealand is as informed and informative as it is 'reader friendly' and thoughtfully engaging.

For the full review see this link:
Midwest Book Review Bookwatch

Jeff's books with Libro International are available in North America through:

Casemate-IPM
908 Darby Road
Havertown, PA 19083
tel: 610 853-9131
casemate@casematepublishers.com
www.internationalpubmarket.com

Takitimu: A History of Ngati Kahungunu

Takitimu

A History of Ngati Kahungunu

J.H. Mitchell

Handsome new edition of major tribal history

is available from tomorrow

One of the pillars of Maori tribal history will be published tomorrow in a new hardback edition.

Takitimu, which was originally published in 1944, tells the story of the Takitimu canoe’s migration from the Pacific Islands to Aotearoa, and of the descendants born in New Zealand who became Ngati Kahungunu – the peoples centred around the Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa who now make up New Zealand’s third-largest iwi.

Author J.H. Mitchell (Tiaki Hikawera Mitira) died shortly after Takitimu was released, and bequeathed royalties from the work towards a scholarship for graduating students at Wairoa College.

Libro International publisher Peter Dowling worked with the trustees of the J.H. Mitchell Takitimu Memorial Scholarship Trust, led by Wairoa’s Deputy Mayor Denise Eaglesome-Karekare, on the new edition – and will continue to pay royalties to the scholarship fund.

The 2014 book is a facsimile edition that preserves the original contents, with the quality hardback binding and a brilliant new jacket that befit a work of this mana.

Takitimu will keep this important history available to a new generation of descendants. It is available through all good booksellers nationwide.

Release Date: 23 October 2014  |  ISBN: 978-1-877514-72  |  RRP $80

Hardback, 240 x 150 mm, 312 pages, b&w with photo and whakapapa sections

To arrange an interview with Denise, images or a review copy, contact:

Peter Dowling   027 614 8993 or peter@oratiamedia.com

Libro International, a division of Oratia Media

www.librointernational.com   |    www.oratiamedia.com

Maori Weapons in the news

Maori Weapons in Pre-European New Zealand has sold well and got a good media response since publication on 21 August. Here's author Jeff Evans featured in yesterday's Western Leader, click here to read the article.

Maori Weapons - on sale from this Thursday

Maori Weapons

in Pre-European New Zealand

Jeff Evans

At a time of renewed interest in Maori martial arts, Maori Weapons serves as the ideal reference work.

Jeff Evans has collected all the available research to provide a full armoury of traditional Maori weapons in one concise volume. Maori Weapons provides cultural and technical information on the handmade weapons used by Maori, along with extensive photos and line drawings.

From the well-known taiaha and mere to the more obscure wahaika and maripi, this comprehensive guide will serve a range of students, practitioners and general readers.

This valuable book has been out of print for some time. Libro International will be releasing the new Maori Weapons on 21 August.

Praise for the first edition of Maori Weapons:

‘This book does a marvellous job of bringing together all the knowledge that could be gleaned from written sources on Maori weapons as objects of war’  – Dr Hirini Melbourne

 ‘A well-resourced and factual volume, supported by legends and slices of history’ – Daily Post

The author: Jeff Evans is a well-known writer and photographer who has authored a number of works relating to Maori canoes and warfare, including Polynesian Navigation and the Discovery of New Zealand, Nga Waka o Nehera: The first voyaging canoes and Waka Taua: The Maori War Canoe. Jeff lives with his family in Te Atatu, Auckland.

Release Date:  21 August 2014  |  ISBN: 978-1-877514-70-8  |  RRP $34.99

Paperback, 250 x 185 mm, 72 pages with illustrations

To arrange an interview, images, extracts or a review copy, contact:

Peter Dowling   027 6148993   peter@oratiamedia.com

Libro International, a division of Oratia Media

www.librointernational.com   |    www.oratiamedia.com