Whiti Hereaka's novel Kurangaituku has been shortlisted for a prestigious fiction prize at this year's Ockham Book Awards.
The novel was inspired by the tale of the fearsome bird-woman, and Hatupatu, a hero of Te Arawa.
Hereaka said in the traditional telling of Hatupatu and the bird-woman Kurangaituku, she is a kind of monster - half-bird and half-woman.
"She's been collecting birds and other things for many years and she comes across Hatupatu in the forest and she takes him home as well," Hereaka said.
"In the traditional story he fools her into leaving her place and he takes her treasures and then runs off, but then Kurangaituku comes after him and then hunts him down."