A History of Indigenous New Zealand Books in European Translation

Abstract

This article is concerned with the European translations of Indigenous New Zealand literature. It presents a statistical evaluation of a bibliography of translated books and provides an overview of publishing this literature in Europe. The bibliography highlights some of the trends in publishing, including the distribution of languages and genres. This study offers an analysis of publishers involved in the dissemination of the translations and retraces the reasons for the proliferation of translated Indigenous books since the mid-1980s. It identifies Indigenous films, literary prizes and festivals as well as broader international events as central causes for the increase in translations.