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The 50th anniversary of Witi Ihimaera’s first collection of short stories, Pounamu, Pounamu, has been celebrated with a new translation as part of the Kotahi Rau Pukapuka project to publish 100 books in te reo Māori.
Editor Pania Papa says the collection opened a window into Maori life, culture and humour of the time – and won Ihimaera great acclaim.
It was released in a Maori translation in 1986, but she says for the new edition she enlisted reo experts from 10 iwi to help put it in modern Maori.
“Just the way the language is being expressed these days. It seems to me to be much broader in terms of the types of words we’re using these days to express any number of different phrases and words that we have,” Ms Papa says.
She says while different dialects and styles have been used, the translators took care not to interfere with the contextual integrity of Ihimaera’s work.
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