Errol Brathwaite | |
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 Brathwaite in 1989 | |
| Born | Errol Freeman Brathwaite 3 April 1924 Waipukurau, New Zealand |
| Died | 4 December 2005 (aged 81) Christchurch, New Zealand |
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Errol Freeman Brathwaite MNZM (3 April 1924 – 4 December 2005) was a New Zealand author.
Born in Waipukurau in 1924, Brathwaite was educated at Timaru Boys' High School. He served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as an air gunner in the Pacific in the latter part of World War II. He married Alison Whyte at St John's Church, Latimer Square, in Christchurch on 20 March 1948[1] and after a period in the army he began working in advertising.[2]
In 1959, Brathwaite wrote his first book, Fear in the Night, a novel set in the Pacific during the Second World War, in which a New Zealand air crew try to repair their bomber and get it airborne again before an approaching Japanese patrol arrives.[3] He became a full-time writer. The three novels The Flying Fish, The Needle's Eye and The Evil Day, written between 1964 and 1967, are a trilogy set during the New Zealand Wars of the nineteenth century.[4] He wrote over 30 books, including many travel guides to New Zealand, and numerous radio plays.[2]
In the 2001 New Year Honours, Brathwaite was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to literature.[5]
Brathwaite died in Christchurch in 2005[2] and was buried in Avonhead Cemetery.[6]
