Arapera Blank

Arapera Hineira Blank (; 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. Early life and family Blank was born in Rangitukia on New Zealand's East Cape on 7 June 1932. She was affiliated with the iwi (tribes) of Ngati Porou, Ngati Kahungungu, Rongowhakaata and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki. Her father was the Reverend Tipi Whenua Kaa, from Rangitukia, who was vicar of the Waiapu parish and her mother Hohipene Kaa (formerly Whaanga) was from Wairoa. Blank was one of 12 children: her siblings include the writer and te reo advocate Keri Kaa, Anglican church leader and child welfare advocate Hone Kaa, and actor Wi Kuki Kaa. She married Swiss-born Pius Blank at St John’s Church, Rangitukia, in 1958. They had two children, Marino and Anton. Career Blank was educated at Queen Victoria School for Māori Girls and studied anthropology at the University of Auckland. She was a teacher for 25 years, including teaching te reo Māori and social studies at Glenfield College and Auckland Girls' Grammar School; her pupils knew her as "Ma Blank".