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'He Lived Fully. He Loved Deeply': Tributes For Journalist And Playwright Aroha Awarau
Pokere Paewai, Māori issues reporter
Award winning Māori journalist and playwright Aroha Awarau has died at the age of 49.
A post on Facebook confirmed he died on Wednesday afternoon "surrounded by care and love."
"True to the way he lived, Aroha met this final moment with grace, courage, and his unmistakable spirit. Cancer shortened the timeline, but it never diminished the person he is. The sharp mind. The sharper tongue. The flamboyance. The creativity. The generosity of friendship. He lived fully. He loved deeply," the post read.
Awarau's debut play, Luncheon, starring Jennifer Ward-Lealand and directed by Katie Wolfe, won Best Play at the 2014 New Zealand Script Writing Awards.
His second play, Officer 27, loosely based on a real-life police shooting, was a finalist at the NZ Adam Playwriting Awards.
He worked again with Ward-Lealand and broadcaster Peata Melbourne for the short film Disrupt. His most recent work, the short film Puti, was released in 2025.
In journalism he worked for various New Zealand media outlets including Woman's Weekly, Woman's Day, Māori Television and RNZ.
He famously interviewed Oprah Winfrey for Māori Television's Native Affairs in 2018 when she visited New Zealand while shooting the Ava DuVernay directed film A Wrinkle in Time.
Ward-Lealand took to Facebook to pay tribute to Awarau. "E te hoa piri pono, Aroha Awarau, kua wehe wawe rawa koe, ā, kei te tangi hotuhotu tēnei ngākau. E hia kē ngā wā kua mahi tahi tāua, kua katakata tāua, kua whakawhiti kōrero tāua. Ka nui taku aroha mōu," she wrote.
Kaupapa Māori performing arts company Te Pou Theatre also took to Facebook saying "Aroha Awarau: fabulous fierce friend and storyteller extraordinairre has finished his brave fight and we are broken hearted."
"Whether he was uplifting peoples true stories or weaving his own worlds for the stage and screen, he was always creating, always working to share those stories that needed to be heard particularly for ngāi Māori, for the pacific, BIPOC and queer community. Aroha has been a loved part of the Te Pou whānau over the past decade and we are heartbroken that we'll not hear that laugh again in the foyer. He has mastered his craft, shared his pūkenga with others and left an incredible and brave legacy of work for the world."
Awarau will be at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Kōtuku in Auckland until midday Friday. Final details for his funeral are yet to be released.
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