Riwia Brown is a playwright and the award winning screenwriter of the cult classic movie Once Were Warriors (1994) from New Zealand. The Once Were Warriors screenplay, adapted from the book of the same name by Alan Duff, gained Brown the Best Screenplay award at the 1994 New Zealand Film and TV Awards. Brown has written for theatre, television and films. Brown is from a creative family. Her brother Apirana Taylor is a poet, story-teller and musician. Her other siblings Rangimoana Taylor and Hania Stewart are also theatre practitioners.