Hone Tuwhare

Hone Tuwhare studied at Otahuhu College. The recorded working language is English and Māori. Distinctions recorded are Exemplary/Supreme Award of the Te Waka Toi Awards, Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement (Poetry), Robert Burns Fellowship and honorary doctor of the University of Otago.

• Name — Hone Tuwhare • Birth Name — Hone Peneamine Anatipa Te Pona Tuwhare • Born — 21 October 1922 • Birthplace — Kaikohe, New Zealand • Died — 16 January 2008 • Place of death — Dunedin, New Zealand • Occupation — Poet

Tuwhare was born in Kaikohe, Northland, into the Ngāpuhi tribe (hapū Ngati Korokoro, Ngāti Tautahi, Te Popoto, Te Uri-o-Hua). Following the death of his mother, his family shifted to Auckland, where Hone attended primary schools in Avondale, Māngere and Ponsonby. He apprenticed as a boilermaker with the New Zealand Railways and took night classes in Mathematics, Trade Drawing and Trade Theory at Seddon Memorial Technical College (1939–41) and Otahuhu College (1941). Tuwhare spoke Māori until he was about 9, and his father, an accomplished orator and storyteller, encouraged his son's interest in the written and spoken word, especially in the rhythms and imagery of the Old Testament.

Starting in 1939, Tuwhare, encouraged by fellow poet R.A.K. Mason, began to write while working as an apprentice at the Otahuhu Railway Workshops. In 1956, Tuwhare started writing seriously after resigning from a local branch of the Communist party. His first, and arguably best known work, No Ordinary Sun, was published in 1964 to widespread acclaim and subsequently reprinted ten times over the next 30 years, becoming one of the most widely read individual collections of poetry in New Zealand history. When Tuwhare's poems first began to appear in the late 1950s and early 1960s they were recognised as a new departure in New Zealand poetry, cutting across the debates and divisions between the 1930s and post-war generations. Much of the works' originality was the result of their distinctly Māori perspective. The poems were marked by their tonal variety, the naturalness with which they could move between formal and informal registers, between humour and pathos, intimacy and controlled anger and, especially, in their assumption of easy vernacular familiarity with New Zealand readers. During the 1970s Tuwhare became involved in Māori cultural and political initiatives. This same era also saw his international reputation grow, with invitations to visit both China and Germany, which, among other opportunities, lead to the publication of Was wirklicher ist als Sterben in 1985. In 1990, artist Selwyn Muru incorporated a haiku written by Tuwhare into Waharoa, a sculptural gateway at the entrance of Aotea Square in Auckland. Muru translated the piece into Māori, and inscribed this alongside Tuwhare's original words. While his earlier poems were kept in print, new work was constantly produced. Tuwhare's play, "In the Wilderness Without a Hat", was published in 1991. Three further collections of poetry then followed: Short Back and Sideways: Poems & Prose (1992), Deep River Talk (1993), and Shape-Shifter (1997). In 1999 he was named New Zealand's second Te Mata Poet Laureate, the outcome of which was the publication Piggy-Back Moon (2002). The poet moved to Kaka Point in South Otago in 1992, and many of his later poems reflected the scenery of The Catlins area, and the seafood available. He had a strong working relationship with fellow Otago artist Ralph Hotere, and their work often referenced each other. Tuwhare's poem "Rain" was in 2007 voted New Zealand's favourite poem by a clear margin. Poetry by Tuwhare was included in UPU, a curation of Pacific Island writers’ work which was first presented at the Silo Theatre as part of the Auckland Arts Festival in March 2020. UPU was remounted as part of the Kia Mau Festival in Wellington in June 2021.

In July 2010 the Hone Tuwhare Charitable trust was formed in honour of Tuwhare. Their goal is: "To inspire people through the preservation, promotion, and celebration of Hone’s legacy".

• Illustration — Memorial plaque dedicated to Tūwhare in Dunedin, on the Writers' Walk on the Octagon • No Ordinary Sun, Auckland, Blackwood and Janet Paul, 1964 • Come Rain Hail, Dunedin, University of Otago, 1970 • Sapwood and Milk, Dunedin, Caveman Press, 1972 • Something Nothing, Dunedin, Caveman Press, 1973 • Making a Fist of It, Dunedin, Jackstraw Press, 1978 • Selected Poems, Dunedin, McIndoe, 1980 • Year of the Dog. Dunedin, McIndoe, 1982 • Was wirklicher ist als Sterben, Straelen, Straelener-Ms.-Verl, 1985 • Mihi: Collected Poems, Auckland, Penguin, 1987 • Short Back & Sideways, Auckland, Godwit, 1992 • Deep River Talk: Collected Poems, Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1994 • Shape-Shifter, Wellington, Steele Roberts, 1997 • Piggy-back Moon, Auckland, Godwit, 2001 • Oooooo......!!!, Wellington, Steele Roberts, 2005 • Friend, Whangarei, Noah