Renée (Ngāti Kahungunu /Gordan Clan), was born 1929. Her first play Setting the Table, also a first for Aotearoa with 4 Takatapui as leads, opened at Mercury in 1982. Her plays (20) include the Wednesday To Come trilogy and revues such as Asking For It which featured Super Dyke (Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Noo– its Super Dyke). She has written 9 novels. Her most recent publications are her memoir, These Two Hands (Makaro Press 2017) and her first crime novel The Wild Card (The Cuba Press 2019). Her second crime novel, Blood Matters, will be published in 2022. Renée has received numerous fellowships and awards among which are Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (2006), Kingi Ihaka award (2013) Playmarket award (2017) and 2018 the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement.

Verb Festival 2021 Appearances
Tui, tui, tuiā, Sun 7 Nov, 1pm.
Crone Wisdom, Sun 7 Nov, 4pm.

Books