Whiti Hereaka is a novelist and playwright of Maori and Pakeha descent. Her iwi affiliations are Ngati Tuwharetoa, Te Arawa, Ngati Whakaue, Tuhourangi, Ngati Tumatawera, and Tainui. She is the author of four novels: The Graphologist’s Apprentice, Bugs, Legacy, and Kurangaituku. Legacy won the New Zealand Children’s and Young Adult Book Award for YA fiction in 2019, and Kurangaituku was awarded the 2022 Jann Medlicott Acorn Award for fiction in the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award 2023.