One of New Zealand’s most influential writers is being remembered for his generational impact on readers around Aotearoa and the world.

The passing of Arts Icon Maurice Gee at 93 on Sunday (15 June) has been met with an outpouring of sadness but also gratitude for what his creative genius has provided to the country’s creative identity.

With 50 years of writing under his belt after becoming a full-time author in 1975, Gee wrote some of the most admired and impactful stories New Zealand has ever produced - and is cited as an inspiration to many writers and creatives to follow in his footsteps.

As detailed by Auckland Writers Festival in their tribute to Gee “his novels — including Plumb, Going West, In My Father’s Den, Live Bodies, Under the Mountain, The Halfmen of O, and The Fat Man - helped shape the literary landscape of this country. With clarity, imagination, and compassion, he captured the quiet complexities of life in Aotearoa.

“He leaves behind a towering legacy and stories that will endure.”

Gee was the inaugural Honoured New Zealand Writer at the Auckland Writers Festival back in 2012, among a cavalcade of recognition for an extraordinary career.

The Arts Foundation made Gee one of their inaugural Icon in 2003, to go with the prestigious Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship in 1992.

General Manager Jessica Palalagi described Gee as “a literary giant, a master storyteller, a quiet revolutionary, and one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most celebrated novelists.

“Though he was quick to shun the spotlight, he captivated readers across the country and beyond. His influence is woven through classrooms, libraries, and bookshelves across the country. His legacy lives on in the writers he inspired and in the enduring power of his words.”

Gee’s genius extended from the pages to the screen and stage. As Manatū Taonga Ministry of Culture and Heritage outlined, “One of his seminal works, Plumb, was described as one of the best novels ever written in New Zealand. In the early 1980s, his children’s book Under the Mountain was made into a TV show, which many people still remember fondly today. It was later adapted into a film in 2009, starring Sam Neill.

“Gee’s work was read in the home and in public life. Gee’s writing is still being read and studied in schools across Aotearoa, and he has been recognised with many high profile awards and prizes for his contributions to writing and children’s literature.”

The 2002 New Zealand Children's Literature Foundation's Margaret Mahy Medal winner saw two other movies based on bis books released - 2004’s In My Father’s Den and Fracture.

Creative NZ eulogised “He was both extraordinarily accomplished and versatile, producing short stories, television scripts, and novels for children and adults. Readers who thrilled to the tension of ‘Under the Mountain’ could mature to read his renowned ‘Plumb’ trilogy. One of the many awards recognising his work and his contribution was the 2004 Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement (Fiction).”

Gee was a seven time winner of the National Book Award for Fiction - A Glorious Morning, Comrade (1975); Plumb (1979); Meg (1981); The Burning Boy (1990); Going West (1992); Live Bodies (Penguin, 1998); Blindsight (2005).

The Ockham NZ Book Awards posted “A mighty totara of Aotearoa NZ literature has died. Maurice Gee, you will be forever remembered for your humility, creativity and skill as a writer and we are so sad you have gone.”

His connection and support of arts festivals was a thing of legend - none more so that the event influenced by one of his books.

Going West Fest describes Gee’s contribution as “immeasurable”, stating “The inaugural Going West Books & Writers festival was named after his 1992 novel, and inspired by the train journey described so evocatively within its pages.

“In 1997, our second year, Maurice read from those very pages on the platform at Henderson station - or Loomis, as it was known in his fiction. A long time supporter and regular guest of the Festival, Maurice eventually became our Trust's patron, an honour he still held until his death.

“He leaves behind rich stories that have impacted generations of New Zealand readers — many of who met his work first as children, then later as adults.

“(Gee) showed us that great literature could be written here, be set here, and could speak in our own voice.”

Wellington Writers Walk shows off Gee's sculpture at the edge of Whairepo Lagoon, with the organisation sharing “What a brilliant writer he was, for both adults and children, and yet such a modest, unassuming person.”

Author and literary reviewer Claire Mabey shared on social media “Maurice Gee. You great man. Thank you for Jimmy Jaspers. And Shy and the Woodlanders. So grateful… Wilberforces and red headed twins and the goodness of children and the power. How lucky we are to have these stories.”

Actress and author Michelle Langstone posted “A hero of imagination. Stories filling the rooms in my memory with Shy flowers, spy beetles, Jimmy Jaspers, solemn Plumbs, anarchy, courage, Halfmen, fire, deep familial love. Drawn so alive. Vale Maurice Gee. I’m imagining the Birdfolk circling and bestowing feathers in O for you.” 

There are countless stories of Gee touching the lives of those who admired him. Sharyn Mathias shared a poignant one on Instagram.

“I was privileged to have a little letter swapping with him when teaching Year 6. We did an author study on him, then analysed his book, Under the Mountain. It had been a TV series in the early eighties and then to be made into a movie - except the first attempt to make the movie couldn’t get the funding. Our class decided to have a garage sale to raise money to send to Maurice. Toys, books and baking were brought along and $370 was made and sent to Maurice.

“We received a beautiful letter from him - which I still have - thanking us for the donation, encouragement for the children to write every day plus a copy of the original TV series of UTM , and that the money would be sent to whoever to make the movie , which it was in 2009.

“He kept writing to us throughout the year, encouraging writing which was appropriate for that year group as they were terrific little writers and loved writing.

“Maurice’s advice was: ‘I write because I have to, not because I want to. It’s a way of making sense of things.’

“And in doing so, he helped all so many of us make sense of the world around us.”

Publisher and literary commentator Fergus Barrowman knew Gee for more than 40 years - his sister Rachel Barrowman wrote the 2015 biography Maurice Gee: Life and Work - and told RNZ he was among many that considered Gee's work a huge influence in his life.

"I read Plumb when it came out in paperback in 1979, and I was 18, and it was the first New Zealand book I read that really sort of fired my imagination and gave me a sense of how sort of diverse and interesting and challenging this country was.

"I read everything else, and he's really shaped my view.”

Gee’s words, his worlds and his vision have shaped more than just views - they’ve moulded the very foundations of fiction writing in New Zealand. A talent that will never be forgotten.