From the Centre A Writer's Life

With photographs and quotes from her many, hugely loved books, Patricia Grace begins with her grandparents and parents and takes us through her childhood, her education, marriage and up to the present day in this touching and self-deprecating story of her life, the life of a writer, of a Maori woman and of a teacher. It expresses the love for family and for ancestral land; shows the prejudices she had to face and that made her stronger; and tracks her career as a writer. ‘We live by the sea, which hems and stitches the scalloped edges of the land.’ Renowned writer Patricia Grace begins her remarkable memoirs beside her beloved Hongoeka Bay. It is the place she has returned to throughout her life, and fought for, one of many battles she has faced: ‘It was when I first went to school that I found out that I was a Maori girl . . . I found that being different meant that I could be blamed . . .’ As she shows, her experiences — good and bad, joyous and insightful — have fuelled what became a focus of her life: ‘I had made up my mind that writing was something I would always do.’