Mat Tait
Mat Tait (born 1970) is a New Zealand author, illustrator, artist and cartoonist. His book Te Wehenga: The Separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku won the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year at the 2023 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Tait was a judge for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2025.
Mat Tait
- Name
- Mat Tait
- Born
- 1970
- Birthplace
- Christchurch, New Zealand
- Occupation
- illustrator · writer · comics artist
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q121590510 · wikipedia · Mat Tait
In this article
Biography
Biography
Tait's 2026 book Kupe and the Great Octopus of Muturangi was nominated for the Russell Clark Award for Illustration and the original te reo Māori version Kupe me te Wheke nui a Muturangi was nominated for the Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award in the 2026 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Mat Tait • Born — 1970 • Birthplace — Christchurch, New Zealand • Language — English • Genre — Cartoons, illustration • Website — mattait.com
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1970
Mat Tait born.
As writer and illustrator
• Te Wehenga: The Separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku (Allen & Unwin, 2022) • Kupe and the Great Octopus of Muturangi (Allen & Unwin, 2026)
As illustrator
• The Adventures of Tupaia by Courtney Sina Meredith (Allen & Unwin, 2019) • The Heading Dog who Split in Half: Legends and Tall Tales from New Zealand by Michael Brown (Potton & Burton, 2015)
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Mat Tait, revision 1372504413 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Mat Tait : comics, art, illustration. National Library of New Zealand.
- 2.Mat Tait. Annual Annual | NZ.
- 3.Bilingual book takes top honours at Children's Book Awards. RNZ. August 10, 2023.
- 4.Tang, Eda. Bilingual book wins New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young adults. Stuff. August 11, 2023.
- 5.Judges. New Zealand Book Awards Trust.
- 6.Mabey, Claire. All the finalists in the 2026 NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. The Spinoff. 2026-06-10.
- 7.Trudgeon, Bee. 'As long as it's on our own terms': an interview with Mat Tait. The Sapling. 2026.
- 8.The Spinoff Review of Books. ‘Exiled to the op shop’: Mat Tait on the book he lied about reading. The Spinoff. 2026-04-01.
- 9.The Adventures of Tupaia. RNZ. September 13, 2019.
- 10.Comic artist brings tall tales, legends to life. Stuff. February 2, 2016.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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