From Going West’s second year in 1997, master storyteller Maurice Shadbolt, celebrates the near forgotten lives from New Zealand’s history, and talks of his path to writing history to life, particularly in the context of his novel The Season of the Jew.

Shadbolt, is a major New Zealand writer with an international reputation. He published numerous books and won every major New Zealand literary prize, some multiple times, and sometimes to the chagrin of other writers. His most renowned work is his trilogy on the New Zealand Land Wars. The first book The Season of the Jew, is a semi-fictionalized account of the story of the Māori leader Te Kooti, told from the perspective of one of his pursuers. It explores issues of racism and injustice and is told as a romping read. Shadbolt was one of the few writers of his time to feel at home with the myths, stories, and legends of his own country, and championed bringing those stories to life and to a broad readership.

His home in Titirangi, at 35 Arapito Road, where much of his work was written, is soon to become a writers’ residence and form part of the West Auckland literary landscape, thanks to the mahi of the Shadbolt House Trust, the Waitakere Local Board, and the Waitakere and Auckland Councils. Tino pai rawa atu!