Kai Tainui



“Now in his late thirties, he was educated at Hokitika. Although he admits to some Irish blood, his ‘real’ name is Te Kaiwharawhara. This is his first published story although he’s ‘written a lot because [he has] met a lot of interesting people and their stories sort of stay with [him].’ Works mostly on the West Coast, but moves around.”

Biographical sources

  • Landfall 35.1 (1981):124.

    Fiction

  • "A Nightsong for the Shining Cuckoo." Kai Tainui. Landfall 35.1 (1981): 7-19. Rpt. in Te Kaihau/The Windeater Wellington, N.Z.: Victoria University Press, 1986. 119-133. Rpt. in Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 1: Te Whakahuatanga O Te Ao: Reflections of Reality. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1992. 264-274.
  • In this story Frances, the crippled narrator, begins a new life in the city and opens a dairy.