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Jeff Evans

Jeff Evans is a non-fiction writer living in Auckland. The author of seven books relating to Māori and Polynesian culture, he has written extensively about both waka and voyaging, including Reawakened – Traditional Navigators of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa (2021), Ngā Waka o Neherā: The First Voyaging Canoes (1997), and The Discovery of Aotearoa (1998). A graduate of the University of Auckland Master of Creative Writing program, he was a finalist in the General Non-Fiction category of the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

2024 Summer T3BOOKS

Excerpt from Ngātokimatawhaorua: The Biography of a Legendary Waka Taua

Ngāpuhi heartland, October 1937. Rānui Maupakanga, possibly the last master waka builder of his generation and by then in his seventies, enters Puketi Forest. Heir to the skills and knowledge required to build waka taua, he will prove to be a vital link to the tohunga tārai waka of years…

Jeff EvansNovember 18, 2024

MCW Books

Ngātokimatawhaorua: The Biography of a Legendary Waka Taua

Shortlisted for the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. This is the biography of the mighty ceremonial waka taua Ngātokimatawhaorua that rests on the Treaty Grounds at Waitangi. The inspiration for its construction came from Te Puea Hērangi. In the late 1930s the Waikato leader held a dream to build seven…

Jeff EvansMay 10, 2024

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