Anne Salmond
Dame Anne Salmond makes history intriguing, exciting and highly relevant. An eminent anthropologist, historian, writer and environmentalist, Anne shares her understanding of the Māori experience and how it shapes us all as New Zealanders.
Her books include a study of Māori ceremonial gatherings, biographies of her mentors Amiria and Eruera Stirling, accounts of Captain Cook’s Pacific voyages and Captain Bligh’s biography.
Her latest book, titled Tears of Rangi: Experiments between Worlds (to be released in July) is about exchanges between ancestral Māori and other ways of living in New Zealand, and possible futures.
Anne has won numerous awards and accolades. She was made Dame Commander of the British Empire for services to New Zealand history in 1995. She has been elected a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) and a corresponding fellow of the British Academy, the first New Zealander to receive both awards.
In 2013 she became the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year, and was awarded the Rutherford Medal, New Zealand’s top scientific honour. Anne is patron of many organisations, including The National Whale Centre in Picton.
Praise for The Trial of the Cannibal Dog:
“Wonderful…a highly engaging book about one of the strangest tales of the British Empire.. read it with relish.” Mail on Sunday
“Professor Salmond’s riveting and meticulous account reads more like Conrad than history.” Adelaide Advertiser
Photo credit: Stephen Barker
Anne's new book, released July 2017
Festival sessions held
In Cook’s Wake
Anne Salmond in conversation with Peter Jerram
The first significant long-term contacts between Māori and Pakeha took place in Totaranui/Queen Charlotte Sound in the 1770s and have shaped the country. Dame Anne Salmond was one of the first to tell that history from two perspectives, continuing her contribution to bridging the cultural divide between Maori and Pakeha. As we look to celebrate 250 years since Cook first visited the region, Marlborough author Peter Jerram, a long-time Cook enthusiast, will talk with Anne about two of her incredibly detailed and gripping books, Two Worlds, Between Worlds, and The Trial of the Cannibal Dog, Captain Cook in the South Seas. This special festival session is held aboard Marlborough Tour Company’s MV Odyssea as it cruises Queen Charlotte Sound, and includes a delicious morning tea and lunch, including beverages.
A Personal History
Anne Salmond in conversation with Tessa Nicholson
On student exchange in the United States, Dame Anne Salmon felt out of her depth answering questions about Māori culture. The Gisborne teen put this to rights by studying anthropology at Auckland University and embracing the mentorship of kaumatua. The rest, as they say, is history. Hear about Anne's own history, studded with academic success, environmental leadership, international recognition and that wonderful ability to help Pakeha and Māori cross the cultural divide in her detailed, yet accessible writing.