Bird Child and Other Stories
Author:
Patricia Grace
Publisher:
Penguin New Zealand
ISBN:
9781776950546
Date published:
January 30
Pages:
272
Format:
Paperback
RRP:
$37.00
A powerful new collection from one of Aotearoa's most esteemed fiction writers. Mythology and contemporary Maori life are woven together seamlessly in this spectacular collection by Aotearoa's foremost short story writer. The titular story 'Bird Child' plunges you deep into Te Kore, an ancient time before time. In another, the formidable goddess Mahuika, Keeper of Fire, becomes a doting mother and friend. Later, Grace's own childhood vividly shapes the world of the young character Mereana; and a widower's hilariously human struggle to parent his seven daughters is told with trademark wit and crackling dialogue. Moving artfully across decades, landscapes, time and space, with tenderness and charm, Bird Child and Other Stories shows an author as adept and stimulating as ever. "Grace's stories make a shining and enduring place formed of the brilliant weave of Maori oral storytelling." - Joy Harjo Fly Bird, fly Child, in every direction. Know what there is to know of everything terrestrial, Of all that has been laid out by Tane-nui-a-Rangi. Fly high. Fly high. Know all that is celestial. Attain the uncountable stars.
About the author:
Patricia Grace (Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa and Te Ati Awa) is one of New Zealand's most celebrated writers. She has published over 35 titles, including novels, short-story collections, works of non-fiction and books for children, a number of which have been translated into te reo Maori. Among numerous awards, she won the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards in 1986 for the much-loved Potiki, which also won the New Zealand Fiction Award in 1987. She was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2001 with Dogside Story, which won the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Fiction Prize. Tu won the 2005 Montana New Zealand Book Awards Fiction Prize and the Deutz Medal for Fiction and Poetry. Her children's story The Kuia and the Spider won the Children's Picture Book of the Year and she has also won the New Zealand Book Awards For Children and Young Adults Te Kura Pounamu Award. Patricia was born in Wellington and lives in Plimmerton on ancestral land, in close proximity to her home marae at Hongoeka Bay. Her book Cousins was made into an internationally-acclaimed film in 2021, directed by daughter in law Briar Grace-Smith and Ainsley Gardiner.
