Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) is a Māori art and architectural historian and professor of architecture at the University of Auckland.
Her books include Māori Architecture (Raupo, 2009; Ngā Kupu Ora award winner, New Zealand Post Book Awards finalist), Introducing Maori Art (Reed, 2005), Tai Tokerau Whakairo Rākau: Northland Maori Wood Carving (Reed, 2003; NZSA Best First Book, Montana New Zealand Book Awards), Te Puna: Māori Art from Te Tai Tokerau (Reed, 2007) with Ngarino Ellis, the multi-authored Art in Oceania: A New History (Thames & Hudson, 2012; Art Book Prize for best English language art book) and A New Zealand Book of Beasts (Auckland University Press, 2013).
She has curated exhibitions and is a former governor of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand.
Deidre is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi and a 2023 Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects Gold Medallist, the Institute’s highest award.