Margaret Orbell
Margaret Rose Orbell (17 July 1935 – 31 July 2006) was a New Zealand author, editor and academic. She was an associate professor of Māori at the University of Canterbury from 1976 to 1994. During her career, Orbell wrote several books on Māori literature and culture, edited numerous collections of songs, poetry and stories, and brought Māori works to a wider and international audience. In 2002, she was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori and literature. Early life and education. Orbell was born in Auckland and attended St Cuthbert's College . Orbell later graduated from the University of Auckland, where she completed a Masters of Arts in English and a Ph.D in anthropology. Her Ph.D thesis was on waiata aroha (Māori love songs). Career. From 1962 to 1966 Orbell was the editor of bilingual quarterly "Te Ao Hou / The New World", published by New Zealand's Māori Affairs Department and printed by Pegasus Press. During her time as editor, she ensured more literary content was included in the journal, and increased the number of translations of historical Māori texts. Her husband Gordon Walters, an artist, helped with the design  and arranged for more artwork to be published in its pages. Orbell published a number of collections of Māori songs and folktales between 1968 and 1995, including many works that might otherwise have been lost. The "Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature" wrote that her main achievement in these books was "to preserve fidelity to the Māori texts and their cultural connotations while arranging, introducing and translating them in ways that make them accessible to other cultures". She and her co-author of "Traditional Songs of the Māori" (1975), Mervyn McLean, were the first to publish Māori lyrics and music  together, as previously Māori music had been largely ignored by Europeans. Orbell's compilation of the anthology "Contemporary Māori Writing" (1970) included early works by a number of New Zealand Māori writers that were later to become significant figures in New Zealand literature, including Witi Ihimaera, Patricia Grace, Harry Dansey and Hirini Mead. It was the first anthology of contemporary Māori writing. New Zealand author Bill Pearson wrote a positive review of the anthology for the literary journal "Landfall". After lecturing in Māori at the University of Auckland between 1974–75, Orbell moved to the University of Canterbury and became the  Associate Professor of Māori. She retired in 1994 to return to Auckland and become a full time writer. In the 2002 New Year Honours, Orbell was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori and literature. Awards. "Traditional Songs of the Māori" (1975), with co-author Mervyn McLean, received the Award for Non-Fiction at the 1976 New Zealand Book Awards. "Illustrated Encyclopedia of Māori Myth and Legend" (1995), "Songs of a Kaumatua: As sung by Kino Hughes" (2002) and "Birds of Aotearoa: A Natural and Cultural History" (2003) were finalists in the New  Zealand Book Awards. Personal life. In 1963, Orbell married Gordon Walters, a New Zealand artist. They had two children.