Witi Ihimaera (Te Whanau-a-Kai) is a novelist and short story writer who has published 11 novels, 6 collections of short stories, written new work for opera and screenplays, and edited numerous anthologies. His novel, The Whale Rider, first published in 1988, was made into an internationally acclaimed feature film in 2002, directed by Niki Caro.

He has also written a screenplay adaptation of his novel The Matriarch. Witi was one of five Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureates in 2009, and he was also honoured with New Zealand's premier Māori arts award Te Tohu Tiketike a Te Waka Toi in January 2010.