Michael King

Michael King was a New Zealand biographer, author and historian and worked on exploring the Maori culture and history throughout his life. He wrote biographies on important Maori sources like Te Puea Herangi, Whina Cooper, Janet Frame, etc. With these important accounts of the Maori times, King was able to scratch the history of New Zealand and establish Maori’s relevance with it. He did not only study Maori culture but also did his research and writings on the Pakeha literature as he himself belonged to the Pakeha ethnicity. Through his books: ‘Being Pakeha’, biography on ‘Frank Sargeson’ and ‘Being Pakeha Now’, he established that Pakeha literature and culture has the same importance as Maori and both the cultures have the same spiritual significance. Through his various books and biographies, King has carved out the psyche of the New Zealanders and of the nation itself. He is the writer of books like: ‘Moko: Maori Tattooing in the 20th Century’, ‘Te Puea’, ‘Whina’, Moriori: A People Rediscovered’, ‘A Land Apart: The Chathan Islands of New Zealand’, ‘In Tread Softly: For You Tread On My Life’, ‘In At The Edge of Memory: A Family Story’, etc. His most famous book ‘The Penguin History of New Zealand’ fetched him the Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement in the category of nonfiction writing.