Maori Writing: Speaking with Two Mouths

Abstract

Drawing on her own experiences as a novelist and anthologist, Tina Makereti explores the situation of the Māori writer as someone “speaking with two mouths,” addressing and drawing from both Māori and Pākehā literary traditions and ways of expressing creativity. Considering some examples from her own fiction and the work of other notable writers such as Patricia Grace, Makereti argues for a richer, more expansive conception of Māori and New Zealand literary history, one drawing on, and acknowledging, Māori ways of imagining literature.