02/06/2026
📖📍Asked and Answered #17
Storytelling is something we all do, but in te ao Māori, Pūrākau and Pakiwaitara are something really special. They're not just stories. They're vessels of knowledge, history, and whakapapa that have been carefully carried across generations.
We had a researcher come in recently looking for something quite specific: adult nonfiction books on Pūrākau, written in te reo Māori. And if possible, Pūrākau from Taranaki. We love a request like this!
Pūrākau are traditional Māori narratives, the big stories that explain the world. The origins of land and sea, the relationships between people and atua, the journeys of ancestors. They hold mātauranga Māori in a way that no textbook could. Pakiwaitara sit alongside them as imaginative, creative storytelling, still deeply rooted in a Māori worldview, but with a little more room to wander.
Taranaki has some of the most powerful Pūrākau in all of Aotearoa. The story of Taranaki maunga alone; love, rivalry, heartbreak, and a long journey across the landscape is the kind of tale that stays with you. The iwi of that rohe have long been kaitiaki of an extraordinary storytelling tradition, and it's one that absolutely deserves to be explored.
Me mihi ka tika ki te Kāhui mounga, kāhui wairua, kāhui poropiti, nā rātou ēnei kōrero i toha ki te iwi.
Our Pūrākau and Pakiwaitara collections here at Research Central bring together books and materials written in te reo Māori, so these stories can be read and appreciated exactly as they were meant to be. Whether you're a researcher, a reo learner, or just someone who loves a great story there's something here for you.
https://discover.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/search/card?id=3081d557-8b4f-5e2b-b1c4-09fbf7d7d629&entityType=FormatGroup
