On 30 March 2008 he appeared in the Taupo District Court at a defended hearing and was represented by prominent barrister Antony Shaw.

In September 2007 he was arrested while speeding near Taupo. ĭuff began writing full-time in 1985 and had Once Were Warriors published in 1990. While in England, Duff had a partner, Paula, and daughter, Katea. However, he then again migrated to a criminal life, and in 1979 was sentenced to 19 months in jail. He worked as an installer of sheet metal insulation, then as a barman and bar manager. In the late 1970s, Duff lived in England. He had a partner, with whom he had two children. At 15 he was sentenced to a term in Waikeria Borstal for assault and breaking and entering.Īfter leaving school, Duff worked as an installer of sheet metal insulation and sang in a band. Later he lived with another uncle, anthropologist Roger Duff, and went back to school at Christchurch Boys' High School. Many of these experiences informed his novel Once Were Warriors.ĭuff was expelled from his school Rotorua Boys' High School and ran away from home, ending up as a State ward at Hamilton Boys' Home. He wrote at some length about his troubled childhood in his 1999 memoir, Out of the Mist and the Steam. ĭuff's parents separated when he was 10, and Duff moved in with a Māori uncle and aunt at Whakarewarewa. Oliver Duff was a writer and foundation editor of the New Zealand Listener, and Duff inherited his grandfather's love of literature. He was born and raised in a State housing area in Rotorua. He is best known as the author of the novel Once Were Warriors (1990), which was made into a film of the same name in 1994.Īlan Duff was born in Rotorua, New Zealand, the son of forestry scientist Gowan Duff (1910–1995), known as Pat, and Hinau Josephine Duff (née Raimona), known as Kuia, of Ngāti Rangitihi and Ngāti Tūwharetoa descent, and grandson of writer Oliver Duff (1883–1967). Once Were Warriors, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?(novel), Jake's Long Shadow, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? (film)Īlan Duff MBE (born 26 October 1950) is a New Zealand novelist and newspaper columnist.

Once were warriors alan duff