Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

NZ book on Mau Moko popular overseas

Updated at 8:07 pm on 22 November 2011

The success in New Zealand of an award winning book on the moko has now been repeated overseas.

Mau Moko, The World of Maori Tattoo won a Montana book award in 2008 and a year later was selected as Maori book of the decade for its comprehension presentation of the history of the moko from pre-European times to the present day, how it fits in to other aspects of Maori culture, and its use in contemporary society.

Now, a recently published French translation has sold out in Paris in three days.

And lead author Ngahuia Te Awekotuku from Waikato University says students at the University of French Polynesia in Tahiti have just voted Mau Moko as their favourite text book.

She says she and her two co-authors are very humbled by the reception the book has received and are astonished at the book's success both here and overseas.

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