Arapera Blank

Arapera Hineira Blank (née Kaa; 7 June 1932 – 30 July 2002) was a New Zealand poet, short-story writer and teacher. She wrote in both te reo Māori and English, and was one of the first Māori writers to be published in English. Her work focussed on aspects of Māori life and the life of women. In 1959 she was awarded a special Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award for a bilingual essay. In 1986 she published a collection of poetry, and after her death her son published a further collection of her writing in 2015.