Rene Hapimarika van de Weert was born in 1949. Ko Te Atiawa te Iwi. Ko Ngati Te Whiti ti hapu. Rene has written, 'just for myself, at least, I remember doing it in primary school; stories, journals, diaries, it was always my way of sorting things out.' Her interests include people, writing, reading, polotixs, history. Rene was shortlisted for the NZ Post Book Awards in 2002 for her first children's book, The Last Whale/Te Tohhhora Whakamutunga.

Selected bibliography:

• The Last Whale illustrated by Anton Petrov (Reed 2001) Te tohora whakamutunga (te reo edition)