Tama Wise

Tama Wise is a Māori author of Ngāpuhi descent. He was influenced by growing up with hip hop culture, as one of a generation of urban Polynesians searching for identity. Coming to writing in his teens, he was quickly drawn to what little fiction he could find that addressed race, sexuality, and poverty in an urban setting. Since then he has told stories of this world and others, weaving love, life, and a Māori view of things.

Tama has been published both locally in New Zealand and abroad, with short stories published in the anthology Huia Short Stories 7: Contemporary Māori Fiction, and more recently the Yellow Medicine Review. He lives in Auckland with his partner and three budgies. His first novel, Street Dreams, is due for release March 2012 by Bold Strokes Books