Alan Duff (born 26 October 1950) is a New Zealand novelist and newspaper columnist. He is best known as the author of the novel Once Were Warriors (1990), which was made into a film of the same name in 1994. Biography Alan Duff was born in Rotorua, New Zealand, the son of forestry scientist Gowan Duff (1910–1995), known as Pat, and Hinau Josephine Duff (née Raimona), known as Kuia, of Ngāti Rangitihi and Ngāti Tūwharetoa descent, and grandson of writer Oliver Duff (1883–1967). He was born and raised in a State housing area in Rotorua. Oliver Duff was a writer and foundation editor of the New Zealand Listener, and Duff inherited his grandfather's love of literature. Duff's parents separated when he was 10, and Duff moved in with a Māori uncle and aunt at Whakarewarewa. He wrote at some length about his troubled childhood in his 1999 memoir, Out of the Mist and the Steam. Many of these experiences informed his novel Once Were Warriors. Duff was expelled from his school Rotorua Boys' High School and ran away from home, ending up as a State ward at Hamilton Boys' Home. Later he lived with another uncle, anthropologist Roger Duff, and went back to school at Christchurch Boys' High School. At 15 he was sentenced to a term in Waikeria Borstal for assault and breaking and entering. After leaving school, Duff worked as an installer of sheet metal insulation and sang in a band. He had a partner, with whom he had two children. In the late 1970s, Duff lived in England. He worked as an installer of sheet metal insulation, then as a barman and bar manager. However, he then again migrated to a criminal life, and in 1979 was sentenced to 19 months in jail. While in England, Duff had a partner, Paula, and daughter, Katea. Duff began writing full-time in 1985 and had Once Were Warriors published in 1990. In September 2007 he was arrested while speeding near Taupo. On 30 March 2008 he appeared in the Taupo District Court at a defended hearing and was represented by prominent barrister Antony Shaw. Duff pled not guilty to failing to remain at a scene after being stopped, failing to stop for police and two charges of resisting police. He was also allegedly abusive and very uncooperative. During the alleged incident, he was stopped and then took off, after a