Peter Gossage

Peter Gossage (22 October 1946 – 30 July 2016) was a New Zealand author and illustrator. Known for his children's picture books based on Māori mythology, Gossage published over 20 books with deceptively simple storytelling popular inside and outside of classrooms. He is best known for his book How Māui Slowed the Sun. He worked on travelling displays outside of his books and also worked in television as a graphic and scenic artist on the TV2 show Happen Inn.

RNZ called Gossage "An author and illustrator responsible for helping popularise Māori tales in schools and homes."

Early childhood Peter Gossage was born in Remuera, Auckland, on 22 October 1946. As a child he was always interested in art, spent most of his leisure time building rafts down in Hobson Bay play fighting and mimicking military scenes. At school, Gossage despised maths. His nickname amongst his friends was Mekon, a reference from the Eagle comic of the 1950s and its antagonist, the Mighty Mekon. He recalled in an interview: "My mates called me Mekon because I had a broad general knowledge, academically, and we all got the Eagle." Gossage was born to a piano tuner father and artist mother. His mother Rita and sister Nola were both graduates of Auckland University's Elam School of Fine Arts.

Early career Gossage's first job after graduating from school was at an advertisement agency where he drew motifs for programmes. In 1964, Gossage traveled to Canada to study silk screening before returning home to work as a scenic artist and graphic designer at TV2. We used to do television programme summary captions, a graphic on a bit of cardboard, twelve inches by nine inches, to show what programmes were on that night. I'd try to have a good range of styles and illustrations. We used a lot of Māori graphics.Gossage would work in this role for the next 10 years before catching the eye of publisher, Charles Strachan, who suggested Gossage try creating a picture book. This suggestion was the birth of the New Zealand favourite, How Māui Found His Mother, published by Lansdowne in 1975. Gossage would release five more titles by 1985.

In March 1980, Gossage began working at the Auckland War Memorial Museum as a display artist. The character, Māui, would appear in many more books of his and would be remembered as a quick-witted, mischievous trickster. Alongside his writing, Gossage is renowned for his very distinctive illustration style which drew children in and kept them enamored at each turn of a page. His books were published under the Penguin Random House New Zealand with 12 being successfully published and 10 still in print, 8 of which were put together to be published in a hardback edition. The first official copy of this edition arrived just after Gossage's death. His legacy lives on even after his death, as many New Zealanders remember him as a trailblazer in the 70s, when very few picture books were successful in communities. He was one of the first to try to tackle the unique brief locals were after but did so wonderfully. John Huria, senior editor at the New Zealand Council for Educational Research said Gossage's books were: ...a gateway for many children "to the Māori visual interpretation of the stories of Aotearoa."

Gossage died in 2016 and is still celebrated and talked about. His books sold tens of thousands of copies around New Zealand and continue to be popular sellers.

Personal life Gossage was married to Josephine, known as Tilly to her friends and family. They met in an Auckland Hospital ward where they were being treated for mental health issues and were married in a 1971 Ratana wedding in St Mary's Bay where they wore purple, honouring each other's spirits.

Gossage had five children: Marama, Ra, Tahu, Aroha and Star Gossage. Josephine was from Pakiri. The pair were known as an eccentric couple.

Publications 1975 – How Māui Found His Father and the Magic Jawbone, 36pp., 1981 – The Fish of Māui, 32pp., 1982 – How Māui Slowed the Sun, 36pp., 1984 – How Māui Found the Secret of Fire, 35pp., 1985 – How Māui defied the Goddess of Death, 36pp., 1985 – The Black Knight, 32pp., 1992 – Tahu, Ra and the Taniwha, 32pp., 2001 – In the Beginning/I Te Timatanga, 32pp., 2003 – Pania of the Reef, 32pp., 2004 – Puhi-Huia and Pong, 40pp., 2005 – Battle of Mountains, 32pp., 2007 – Rona and the Moon, 2012 – The Giant of Lake Wakatipu, 32pp., 2016 – Māui and other Māori Legends, 208pp.,