Alan Duff

Alan Duff (born 26 October 1950) is a New Zealand novelist and newspaper columnist. His novel Once Were Warriors was made into a film of the same name in 1994.

Biography Alan 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). He was born and raised in a State housing area in Rotorua. Oliver Duff was a writer and foundation editor of the New Zealand Listener, and Duff inherited his grandfather's love of literature.

Duff's parents separated when he was 10, and Duff moved in with a Māori uncle and aunt at Whakarewarewa. He wrote at some length about his troubled childhood in his 1999 memoir, Out of the Mist and the Steam. Many of these experiences informed his novel Once Were Warriors.

Duff was expelled from his school Rotorua Boys' High School and ran away from home, ending up as a State ward at Hamilton Boys' Home. Later he lived with another uncle, anthropologist Roger Duff, and went back to school at Christchurch Boys' High School. At 15 he was sentenced to a term in Waikeria Borstal for assault and breaking and entering.

After leaving school, Duff worked as an installer of sheet metal insulation and sang in a band. He had a partner, with whom he had two children.

What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? (1996), the sequel to Once Were Warriors, was the winner of the fiction section of the 1997 Montana Book Awards and was also made into a film What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? in 1999. Two Sides of the Moon was published in 1998. Duff wrote his own memoir, Out of the Mist and the Steam, in 1999. His first novel to be set outside of New Zealand is Szabad (2001). Inspired by the stories of people Duff met during his several trips to Hungary, the story takes place in Budapest during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Jake's Long Shadow (2002) is the third volume in Duff's Once Were Warriors trilogy. In 2003 Once Were Warriors was brought to the stage across New Zealand as a musical drama.

Duff regularly writes for the New Zealand Herald.

Published works

Personal life In September 2007, he was arrested while speeding near Taupō. On 30 March 2008, he appeared in the Taupō District Court at a defended hearing and was represented by prominent barrister Antony Shaw. Duff pled not guilty to failing to remain at a scene after being stopped, failing to stop for police and two charges of resisting police. He was also allegedly abusive and uncooperative. During the alleged incident, he was stopped and then took off. After a pursuit, he allegedly swung a policewoman around by the handcuffs as she was attempting to restrain him. The charges were later dismissed by the Taupō District Court, Judge McGuire saying: "the result however, is that I am left uneasy over whether police prosecutorial power was used wisely and fairly in this instance...". However a high court judge subsequently ruled that the judge erred and police could detain a driver while carrying out checks, although he did not require that the charges be relaid.

In the 1995 New Year Honours, Duff was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to literature.

On 16 June 2011, Duff declared himself bankrupt, owing creditors 3.6 million. As of March 2013, he was living in France and visiting New Zealand several times a year.