Born in Wellington, Apirana Taylor is of P?keh? and M?ori descent with affiliations to Ng?ti Porou, Te Wh?nau-?-Apanui and Ng?ti Ruanui. He was a prominent member of the M?ori theatre cooperative Te Ohu Whakaari. Taylor has published three volumes of poetry — Eyes of the Ruru (1979), Soft Leaf Falls of the Moon (1997) and Te Ata Kura; the red-tipped dawn (2004); three short-story collections; a novel, He Tangi Aroha (1993); and two plays. He was a runner-up for the Pegasus Book Award in 1985, for He Rau Aroha: A Hundred Leaves of Love.

• 3 shades, by Apirana Taylor, Lindsay Rabbitt, L.E. Scott; with an introduction by Alan Loney, Wellington: Voice Press, 1981

• Ki te ao: new stories, Penguin Books, 1990

• Te ata kura = The red tipped dawn, Canterbury University Press, 2004