To highlight, celebrate, and honour Māori writers
To support Māori writers of diverse genres, share knowledge, and provide platforms to showcase their work
To inspire a new generation of Māori writers and pass down knowledge through wānanga
Promoting the mātauranga of reading and writing to the iwi whānui
A gathering of all people to engage with Māori literature
Patricia Grace is one of New Zealand’s most prominent and celebrated Maori fiction authors and a figurehead of modern New Zealand literature. She garnered initial acclaim in the 1970s with her collection of short stories entitled Waiariki (1975) — the first published book by a Maori woman in New Zealand. She has published six novels and seven short story collections, as well as a number of books for children and a work of non-fiction. She won the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction for Potiki in 1987, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2001 with Dogside Story, which also won the 2001 Kiriyama Pacific Rim Fiction Prize. Her children’s story The Kuia and the Spider won the New Zealand Picture Book of the Year in 1982.
Source: Penguin Books New Zealand
Karena and Kasey Bird are sisters who grew up in the beach side community of Maketu which is the landing ground of the Te Arawa waka and where they also still currently reside. “We were fortunate to be brought up in a community where everyone knows each other. Fresh fruit, vegetables and seafood were always shared between neighbours when they harvested a crop or came back in from diving and fishing. It was an idyllic childhood”.
Karena and Kasey are fluent speakers of Māori language and their cooking style is firmly rooted in their unique culture heritage.
Food was always a passion for Karena and Kasey they spent a huge amount of time investing in food experiences and building their culinary knowledge. Kasey spent some time living in Melbourne before returning to the Bay of Plenty where she studied Accounting. During this time Karena and Kasey both took up the opportunity to enter Masterchef New Zealand and in May 2014 Karena and Kasey were announced the winners of that programme.
Since winning Masterchef Karena and Kasey have travelled to over 50 destinations across the globe learning about food and culture whilst also being involved with a number of food events and activations throughout New Zealand. They have hosted 2 seasons of the award-winning series “Karena and Kasey’s Kitchen Diplomacy” which saw them travel to a new overseas destination each episode which was played on TVNZ 1 and on a number tv channels overseas. They have cooked for a number of NZ dignitaries and celebrations/events around the world including the NZ consulate Shanghai, ANZAC celebrations Los Angeles, NZ Embassy Jakarta Indonesia, NZ Embassy Italy, NZ Embassy Korea, Gary Player 'Support our kids' charity auction Japan, NZ Consulate General New Caledonia and the NZ Embassy Chile. They have been the food editors for Mana magazine and also food contributors for the Herald on Sunday. They have also self-published two award winning cookbooks “For the Love of...” & “Hungry”.
Ko Ahorangi Tā Tīmoti Kāretu tētahi kaiwetereo kauanuanu nui katoa o te iwi Māori. Ko ia te kaikōmihana tuatahi o te reo Māori mai i te tau 1987 ki te tau 1999, ā, ka whai mai ko tana noho hei kaiwhakahaere matua i Te Poari Matua o Te Kōhanga Reo mai i te tau 1993 ki te tau 2003. Ko ia hoki tētahi i whakatakoto i te tūāpapa o Te Panekiretanga o te Reo, me te aha, i tū ia hei kaiwhakahaere matua mōna.
Nō te tau 2019, e iwa ngā waiata ka whakamāoritia e Tīmoti i te reo Pākehā ki te reo Māori mō te kōpae waiata o Waiata/Anthems i eke rā ki te taumata tuatahi i te tūtohu kōpae waiata o Aotearoa i te marama o Mahuru 2019.
Sir Tīmoti Kāretu is one of Māoridom’s most respected linguists. He was the first Māori language commissioner, between 1987 and 1999, and then was executive director of Te Kohanga Reo National Trust from 1993 until 2003. In 2003, he was closely involved in the foundation of Te Panekiretanga o te Reo, the Institute of Excellence in Māori Language, and served as its executive director.
In 2019, Tīmoti translated nine songs from English to Māori language for the album, Waiata/Anthems, which peaked at No. 1 on the New Zealand album charts in September 2019.
Karena and Kasey Bird are sisters who grew up in the beach side community of Maketu which is the landing ground of the Te Arawa waka and where they also still currently reside. “We were fortunate to be brought up in a community where everyone knows each other. Fresh fruit, vegetables and seafood were always shared between neighbours when they harvested a crop or came back in from diving and fishing. It was an idyllic childhood”.
Karena and Kasey are fluent speakers of Māori language and their cooking style is firmly rooted in their unique culture heritage.
Food was always a passion for Karena and Kasey they spent a huge amount of time investing in food experiences and building their culinary knowledge. Before entering Masterchef Karena spent sometime living in Wellington before returning to the Bay of plenty where she worked as an auditor. During this time Karena and Kasey both took up the opportunity to enter Masterchef New Zealand and in May 2014 Karena and Kasey were announced the winners of that programme.
Since winning Masterchef Karena and Kasey have travelled to over 50 destinations across the globe learning about food and culture whilst also being involved with a number of food events and activations throughout New Zealand. They have hosted 2 seasons of the award-winning series “Karena and Kasey’s Kitchen Diplomacy” which saw them travel to a new overseas destination each episode which was played on TVNZ 1 and on a number tv channels overseas. They have cooked for a number of NZ dignitaries and celebrations/events around the world including the NZ consulate Shanghai, ANZAC celebrations Los Angeles, NZ Embassy Jakarta Indonesia, NZ Embassy Italy, NZ Embassy Korea, Gary Player 'Support our kids' charity auction Japan, NZ Consulate General New Caledonia and the NZ Embassy Chile. They have been the food editors for Mana magazine and also food contributors for the Herald on Sunday. They have also self-published two award winning cookbooks “For the Love of...” & “Hungry”.
Rangi Matamua (Tūhoe) is Professor of Mātauranga Māori at Massey University and a pioneering Māori scholar who has revolutionised understandings of Māori astronomy, and in particular Matariki. His research has been ground-breaking in terms of its contribution to mātauranga Māori; he has enlightened both national and international populations on the mātauranga of astronomy. He is renowned for his role communicating his research in an accessible and engaging way, and reaching both academic and non-academic audiences. Rangi is both the author of the bestselling book Matariki: The Star of the Year (published both in English and te reo editions) and presenter of the award winning te reo Māori web series Living by the Stars. He has challenged widespread misconceptions about Māori astronomy and has enhanced our understandings of a Māori world view of the stars. His research is situated at the interface between mātauranga Māori and Western science and he is helping to reconnect people with maramataka – the Māori lunar calendar – and the environment. Rangi is also part of a wider movement, reclaiming Indigenous astronomy as part of a continued process of decolonisation. He has won the 2019 Prime Minister’s Science Communication Prize and the 2020 Callaghan Medal for science communication from Royal Society Te Apārangi.
Whiti Hereaka is an award-winning novelist and playwright of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa, Ngāti Whakaue, Tuhourangi, Ngāti Tumatawera, Tainui and Pākehā descent, based in Wellington. She holds a Masters in Creative Writing (Scriptwriting) from the International Institute of Modern Letters.
She is the author of four novels: The Graphologist’s Apprentice, and the award-winning YA novels Bugs, Legacy and Kurangaituku. Legacy won the New Zealand Children’s and Young Adult Book Award for YA fiction in 2019. She is also co-editor, with Witi Ihimaera, of an anthology of Māori myths — Pūrākau — published in 2019.
Whiti has been involved with Te Papa Tupu, an incubator programme for Māori writers, as a writer, a mentor and a judge. She also sits on the boards of the Māori Literature Trust, the Michael King Writers Centre and Playmarket NZ.
Whiti teaches Writing for the Young at the International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University and creative writing at Massey University.
Update: Whiti Hereaka has just won the 2022 Jann Medlicott Acorn Award for fiction in the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for Kurangaituku.
Stacey Morrison (Te Arawa, Ngai Tahu) is a radio and TV broadcaster whose projects have spanned 25 years. She is also a mama to three young tamariki who have been brought up with te reo Maori as their mother tongue. Stacey herself didn’t learn to speak Maori until she was an adult. It required a lot of research, determination, wonderful mentors and the support of a community to achieve her goal of becoming fluent by the time her children were born. Stacey and her husband Scotty co-wrote Maori at Home to help other families use te reo in everyday settings, and Stacey's first children's book, My First Words in Maori, became a number-one bestseller.
In 2021, Stacey also co-wrote Kia Kaha, an award-winning and powerful illustrated storybook for the tamariki and rangatahi of Aotearoa New Zealand celebrating Maoritanga! KIA KAHA is a collection of true stories about amazing Maori who have achieved incredible things.
As a winner of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori Champion Award in 2016, and the winner of Waipunarangi - Te Reo and Tikanga Award 2021, as well as a graduate of Te Panekiretanga o te Reo (the Institute of Excellence in Maori Language), Stacey loves encouraging the learning and use of our country’s beautiful native language.
Shilo Kino (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Maniapoto) is an award-winning author and journalist. Her debut novel The Pōrangi Boy was the winner of The Young Adult book of the year at the Children and Young Adult NZ Book Awards in 2021. She was a TV journalist for Marae and has written for Newsroom, NZ Herald, The Spinoff, The Pantograph Punch, The Guardian and North and South. She studied full immersion Te reo Māori last year and wrote a regular column for Newsroom about her journey as well as co-hosted the podcast Back to Kura. Shilo is passionate about Te Ao Māori, speaks Mandarin and held a residency this year at the Michael King Writers' Centre. She is working on two novels this year.
Photo credit: Lyren Fraser
Dr Ngāhuia Murphy (Ngāti Manawa, Ngāti Ruapani ki Waikaremoana) is a mana wahine researcher and author of the books Te Awa Atua: Menstruation in the pre-colonial Māori world and Waiwhero: A celebration of womanhood. In 2011 she gained her Master of Arts with a groundbreaking study of Māori pre-colonial ceremonies and practices regarding menstruation. Her PhD, completed in 2019, examined tohunga ruanuku in warfare and the resurgence of Indigenous women’s ritual practices in Aotearoa, Turtle Island (North America and Canada) and Hawai’i. She is a recipient of many academic and art awards.
Ngāhuia is currently a New Zealand Health Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow designing ceremonies and karakia bundles for wahine Māori to assist with Rites of passage and connection with atua wahine.
Becky is Ngāti Porou and Ngā Puhi and is Head of Urban Development. She has been an academic in NZ, China and the UK for the past 10 years in Architecture, Environmental Studies and Urban Design. She is an Honorary Lecturer in the School of Environmental Planning at Waikato and an Honorary Research Associate at the School of Design, Massey University. Her work – both research and practice – has to date focused on Māori identity and placemaking in Aotearoa New Zealand and the nexus between community creation, social processes, and urban design. She also works to develop better participatory design processes to ensure rangatahi and tamariki voices are heard in built environment decision-making processes. She has a PhD and MA in urban design from Oxford Brookes University, UK, and under-graduate degrees in Politics and Māori studies. She is the author/editor of three books.
Qiane Matata-Sipu (Te Waiohua ki Te Ahiwaru me Te Ākitai, Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pikiao, Cook Islands) is an award-winning journalist, photographer, visual artist and entrepreneur, working across these industries for over 16 years. The 2021 Arts and Culture Woman of Influence is the founder and creator of NUKU, a social enterprise that celebrates Indigenous wāhine. Using a creative, storytelling platform, NUKU amplifies Indigenous female change-makers, system shakers and leaders through audio podcasts, photography, videography, art and live events. NUKU invites wāhine to look at the world through a different cultural lens: one made by and for Indigenous women, mā hine mō hine kia hine. NUKU uses the arts to enhance self-confidence and reduce the impacts of racism, discrimination and social exclusion. At the end of 2021, Qiane self-published the acclaimed book NUKU: Stories of 100 Indigenous Women, which is currently shortlisted for the prestigious Ockham New Zealand book awards. This year Qiane has returned to Kura studying rumaki reo (total immersion te reo Māori) at Te Wananga Takiura.
Becky Manawatu (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Mamoe, Waitaha) was born in Nelson and raised in Waimangaroa, and she lived in Germany and Italy before returning to the West Coast with her family. Her first novel Auē won the 2020 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize and the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. It has been in the NZ bestseller lists ever since, and is now being published worldwide in English, and in translation in other countries, including France.
Jacinta Ruru (Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui) MNZM, FRSNZ is a professor of law at the University of Otago. She researches Indigenous peoples’ legal rights to own, manage and govern lands and waters, te Tiriti o Waitangi and tikanga Māori in the legal system. Her work includes co-authoring Discovering Indigenous Lands: The Doctrine of Discovery in the English Colonies (Oxford University Press, 2010) and co-editing Ngā Kete Mātauranga. Māori Scholars at the Research Interface (Otago University Press, 2021). Jacinta is the recipient of a number of awards for her research, supervision and teaching.
Dr Michael Ross, Ngāti Hauā ki Kai-a-te-mata Marae. I’m a lecturer in Māori studies at Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University. I enjoy stories. Academia tells stories, often supporting the powerful and justifying that position. Māori stories can challenge and reposition actors and thinking. Hence our attempt in Imagining Decolonisation to tell an old story that positions us to move forward into the future.
He kaituhi kaupoi ahau engari he wāhi tōna i te aho e kawea nei ngā kōrero tuku iho.
Ruby Solly (Kāi Tahu, Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe) is a writer, musician and taonga pūoro practitioner living in Pōneke. Her first book 'Tōku Pāpā'; a journey into the relationships between Māori fathers and daughters, disconnection and reconnection from distant whenua, and an illumination of the ways that our parenting techniques pass on our culture, was long listed for the Ockham book awards. In 2021 Ruby was curator Māori for the Auckland Writer's Festival, and in 2019 she was a runner-up for the Castleberg Poetry Prize. As a musician and taonga pūoro practitioner, Ruby has played with Yo-yo Ma, Trinity Roots and Whirimako Black as well as Tararua; an ensemble with Ariana Tikao, Phil Boniface and Alistair Fraser on the band's new label 'Oro Records' which aims to tautoko the use of taonga pūoro and music stemming from whakaaro Māori. She is currently completing a PhD at Massey University in the use of taonga pūoro within hauora.
Ngahuia te Awekotuku (Professor Emeritus) has been a fierce advocate for Maori, women’s and lesbian/gay rights for over five decades. Her PhD (1981), focused on Maori women, the arts and tourism. She has produced three collections of creative fiction and poetry, a monograph on ethics, and a volume of essays. Her works on culture, gender, and sexuality, as well as her poems and stories, continue to be published extensively. She authored Mau Moko : the World of Maori Tattoo (2007), and the catalogue, E Nga Uri Whakatupu : weaving legacies (2015) about traditional Maori textiles. Early fiction includes Ruahine : Mythic Women (2003) reclaiming female power in traditional stories. Her latest fiction collection is Tahuri : A Limited Edition (2017). She continues to write, and dream. And she serves on the paepae tapu o Ngati Whakaue, in her natal village, Ohinemutu.
Pania Tahau-Hodges (Ngāti Tūwharetoa/Ngāti Tūtemohuta, Tūhoe) is Publishing Manager at Huia Publishers and has worked as a writer, editor and resource developer in English and Māori languages for more than twenty years. She is passionate about Māori language and loves creating stories that reflect Māori realities and aspirations. In 2015, she was awarded an internship with a leading publisher in Frankfurt through an initiative of the Publishers Association of New Zealand, the Frankfurt Book Fair and Creative New Zealand. Pania is a self-confessed kapa haka geek and has been to every Matatini festival for the last twenty-five years. This is Pania’s second picture book, following the successful Santa’s Worst Christmas, Te Kirihimete i Whakakorea, which she co-wrote with the HUIA team.
Paula Morris MNZM (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Manuhiri, Ngāti Whatua) is a fiction writer, essayist and editor from Auckland. Her novels include Rangatira (Penguin 2011), fiction winner at the 2012 New Zealand Post Book Awards and the Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards. She co-edited the landmark anthologies Ko Aotearoa Tātou (2020) and A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa NZ (2021). An Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, where she directs the Master of Creative Writing, Paula is the founder of the Academy of New Zealand Literature and Wharerangi, the new online Māori Literature Hub. A former member of the Māori Literature Trust, Paula is currently editing an anthology of contemporary Māori short fiction.
Ko Tiheia te maunga
Ko te Rotorua-nui-a-Kahumatamomoe te moana
Ko Te Awahou te wai tuku kōrero
Ko Tāwakeheimoa te tupuna whare
Ko Te Aongahoro kei tōna taha
Ko Ngāti Rangiwewehi te iwi
Ko Te Arawa te waka.
Ko Wiremu Maihi Te Rangikaheke tōku tupuna.
I tupu ake ahau i roto o Ngāti Rangiwewehi, tata ana ki te marae me te awa o Awahou. He hononga whakapapa anō hoki o taku pāpā ki a Ngāti Maniapoto. Ko taku māmā, nō Ngāti Rangitihi, nō Ngāti Tūwharetoa hoki. He whānau nui tāku, tekau ngā tūngane me ngā teina. Tokomaha hoki ngā iramutu tae atu ana ki ngā mokopuna.
Heoi anō, e iri ana tētahi whakaahua o Wi Maihi (Wiremu Maihi Te Rangikaheke) ki roto i tō mātou whare o Tāwakeheimoa ki Awahou. Ka uru atu ki te whare kei te taha matau, kei te poupou o Ruaeo tōna whakaahua e iri ana i te pakitara. Ka whakatakoto ngā tūpāpaku ki raro i a ia. Nō te wā e tamariki ana mātou i rangona te ingoa o Wi Maihi.
Mutu ana ahau i te kura tuarua o Hukarere, i haere au ki te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha ki Ōtautahi. I te tari Māori o te whare wānanga i kitea ngā tuhituhi a Wiremu Maihi Te Rangikaheke. I a au i reira i tīmata taku wherawhera i ngā tuhituhi a Wi Maihi. Ohorere ahau te pānui atu i ana tuhituhi, anā te tohungatanga o te reo, te whānuitanga o ōna whakaaro. Waihoki te mōhio, he uri ahau nōna.
Nō taua wā tonu i tipu mai te whakaaro, ka āta rangahau, ka whai wāhi atu ahau ki te tupuna me āna tuhituhi. Haere tonu ngā tau, i huri ake anō ahau ki te āta pānui i ana tuhituhi hei kaupapa rangahau i Te Wānanga o Raukawa. Ahakoa i oti pai taku rangahau o taua wā, ka pānui tonu, ka whakaaro tonu atu i ana tuhituhi tae noa ki tēnei wā.
Nō te tau 2019, i whakarewaina tētahi pukapuka ko “Ngā Taniwha o Te Arawa” te ingoa. I ahu mai tērā pukapuka hou i te tuhinga a Wi Maihi, “He Kōrero Patunga Taniwha”. Nāku anō i whakahou kia pānuitia anō e ngā whakatupuranga o nāianei. Nā reira, i tāngia te pukapuka i roto i te aroha me te ngākau whakaute ki a Wi Maihi, ki ōna uri whakaheke, ki tōna rahinga o Ngāti Rangiwewehi nui tonu. Tēnā koutou katoa, nāu nei au.
Ko Wharepūhunga te maunga ko Pūniu te awa ko Raukawa te iwi. Tuatahi ake e mihi ana ki te kaupapa nāna rā ahau i tono kia whai wāhi atu ai ki tēnei wānanga. Mai i taku ohinga inā te nui o te aroha ki te mōteatea. Māringanui i morimoria ahau e aku kaumātua i ōku ake marae i te kāinga, ka mutu ko taku karanga-whaea (te teina o taku whaea) taku tino kaiako. Nāna anō ngā tikanga e pā ana ki te waiata mōteatea i whakatō ki tōku ngākau. I taku tupuranga i Rotorua i manaakitia ahau e ngā iwi o Ngāti Pikiao, o Tūhourangi-Ngāti Wāhiao ki te ako i ā rātou mōteatea, nā wai rā ka ako hoki i ētehi o ā Ngāti Whakaue. Hāunga tērā, he aroha nui nōku ki ngā waiata koroua i ako ai hoki ahau i ētehi o ngā waiata a Ngāi Tūhoe me Te Tairāwhiti. Nōku i te kura takawaenga ka hihiri taku ngākau ki te tito, ka taka te wā ka pakari ake tērā i a au i te haikura. Pakeke ana ahau ka rangatira ahau i a Te Waka Huia ki te tito pātere mā rātou. Arā anō ngā titonga mā tōku ake kapa hoki mā Mōtai Tangata Rau. Heoi anō, hāunga te twhakataetae he rongoā te tito mōteatea, pātere, kaioraora aha atu, aha atu; he huarahi e puta ai ngā whakaaro me ngā kareāroto ki te ao. Hei tauira ake ko taku waiata tangi ki a Rawiri Rangitauira i puta noa mai i a au e hoki atu ana i tōna uhunga. Kei noho tātou ka waiho tēnei āhuatanga kia ngaro, kia kaha rā tātou ki te hāpai ake i ngā mōteatea ā rātou mā, ā, kia kaha hoki tātou ki te tito mōteatea hou.
Dr Keri-Anne Wikitera is a senior lecturer working in the School of Hospitality and Tourism at AUT University. Her hapū, Tūhourangi Ngāti Wahiao and Ngāti Whakaue of Rotorua are recognised as the nation’s first Māori tourism entrepreneurs and as such her personal and academic interests are specifically positioned within promoting and enhancing Māori cultural identity, intercultural exchange, the tourism industry, indigenous history and knowledge systems. She was raised in Tāmaki Makaurau and her home is at Whakarewarewa, the place of her ancestors and where her heart is.
Chris Winitana (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāi Tūhoe) is a Māori language and custom consultant, writer and journalist, a music and television producer (winner of Best Māori Language Television Programme, 2006) and a facilitator of advanced Māori theosophy and practitionership programmes.He has been actively involved in revitalisation of the Māori language, having taught at various levels and written many Māori language readers, radio play series, children's programmes, and literacy resources and books.
Nō Tūhoe me Tūwharetoa a Chris Winitana nāna tēnei pukapuka. He Kaimātai i te reo me ngā tikanga, he kaituhi, he kairipoata, he kaihautū wānanga ao Māori, he kaiwhakahaere kaupapa whakaata, kaupapa waiata hoki. E toru tekau tau te roa a Chris me tana hūnuku e whakarauora mai ana i te reo, he pouako, he whakatū kura, wānanga anō hoki. Arā noa atu ngā pukapuka reo Māori kua tuhia e ia, tatu atu ki ngā whakaari reo irirangi, hōtaka whakaata mā ngā tamariki, rauemi reo Māori. He ngana ā-whetū ia kia puāwai te reo i roto i tana whānau, nā konā, ko te huinga atu o ngā rauru he matatau ki te reo Māori.
Ko Parengarenga te moana, Parengarega is the ocean
Ko Tawhitirahi te maunga, Tawhitirahi is the mountain
Ko Awapoka te awa, Awapoka is the river
Ko Kurahaupo te waka, Kurahaupo is the ocean going canoe
Ko Potahi raua koTe Reo Mihi oku marae, Potahui and Te Reo Mihi are my traditional meeting places
Ko Te Aupouri, ko Ngati Kuri, ko Te Rarawa, ko Ngapuhi nui tonu oku iwi, My tribes are Te Aupouri, Ngati Kuri, Te Rarawa and Ngapuhi
Ko Hinemoa taku ingoa, my name is Hinemoa Elder
Dr Hinemoa Elder has lived on Waiheke Island for 21 years. She is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, working at the Child and Family Unit at Starship Hospital, in Auckland. She is also a Maori Strategic Leader for the Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) for the Ageing Brain.
Nari is a Māmā of two and has two mokopuna. She leads the workforce development for the
National SUDI Prevention Coordination Service and Te Kākano, Minimisation Prevention Gambling
Harm at Hāpai Te Hauora.
Nari has experience in the field of Māori development and research working as a specialist in the
Māori Growth Programme at Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development (ATEED) and in
advancement at AUT University. Her Master’s degree focussed on tribal governance in sacred spaces
and she’s currently enrolled in a doctoral programme with Te Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, with a
research topic on ‘Indigenous models of resilience as a response to crises’.
Dr Nēpia Mahuika is Ngāti Porou. He is the convenor of History at the University of Waikato, and has served as chair of Te Pouhere Kōrero (Māori Historians Collective of Aotearoa), and is a past President of the National Oral History Association of New Zealand. Dr Mahuika specialises in New Zealand history and Māori and iwi histories, oral history, historical theory and methodology, indigenous histories, and history and ethics. He is a Fulbright Scholar (UOI, 2013), and was the inaugural recipient of the Judith Binney Fellowship in 2019.
His most recent book, Rethinking Oral History and Tradition (OUP, 2019) was awarded the OHA Book prize in 2020 and challenges non-indigenous definitions of oral history practice, politics, ethics and theory. Dr Mahuika writes on Māori martial arts, whakapapa (genealogy), biography and history, historical trauma, wānanga as historical pedagogy and method, and decolonization. He is currently working on a History of Mākutu in Aotearoa, an edited collection on global Indigenous oral history methods and ethics, and is part of the working group involved in writing the New Zealand History curriculum reset for 2022.
"Tenga Rangitauira is a raukura, an ex-pupil of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ruamata and a graduate of Waikato University with a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours, a Diploma in Education and a Masters of Education. On top of his regular job as a teacher at Ruamata, Tenga is also a tutor and composer for Te Kura o Ruamata Kura Tuatahi, Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Puku and Te Kapa Haka o Ngāti Whakaue. Two of his compositions are printed in 'He Kohinga Mōteatea o Ngāti Whakaue' which was launched by his whānau in April this year".
For over 20 years Robyn has dedicated her life to building Māori literature in New Zealand. In 2014 she stepped down from her role as Managing Director of HUIA Publishers, but remains involved with HUIA working on some of our book projects and as a member of the Board of Directors. Besides Huia work, Robyn is also the Chair of the Māori Literature Trust, Deputy Chair of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kea Ngāti Tuara, and a Director of Te Puia, the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute. Her other time is spent in te reo Māori studies, weaving korowai and having fun with her mokopuna and whānau.
Ben Ngaia (Te Āti Awa) is Executive Director Development at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, overseeing the design and development of new educational programmes. Before joining the wānanga, he worked in government, education and iwi development. He is also a teacher and historian of Māori language and tikanga in his hapū and iwi.
Anahera (Ngāti Tukorehe) has worked extensively as a visual and performing artist, a writer, and a teacher. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Cordite Poetry Review, Pantograph Punch, Landfall Online Review, Black Marks on the White Page, Huia Short Stories, the NZ Edition of Poetry (2018), and Tātai Whetū: Seven Māori Women Poets in Translation. She has been an award finalist for both her poetry and short stories and won the Huia Best Novel Extract in English and the Takahe Short story competition. In 2016 she published a book of poetry 'Poroporoaki to the Lord My God, Weaving the Via Dolorosa'.
She holds a BA in Art Theory, Graduate Diplomas in Psychology, Teaching, and Performing Arts, and a Master's degree in Creative Writing from Victoria University of Wellington. In 2020 she took a hiatus from PhD study to convene the MA poetry and nonfiction workshop at the International Institute of Modern Letters.
'A Water Suite' her poetic collaboration with Evelyn Araluen as part of Red Room Poetry's Fair Trade project, was first performed live online in August 2021, during Red Room's World Poetry Month Australia/Aotearoa showcase.
Source: Te Herenga Waka
Tarimano Marae, Awahou
Te Pākira Marae, Whakarewarewa
Te Tākinga Marae, Mourea
Click here to download the 2022 Programme sheet
Te Papa-i-Ōuru, Ōhinemutu
Robyn Rangihuia Bargh
Ngahuia Te Awekōtuku
John Paul College
Dr Nēpia Mahuika
Venue: Tarimano Marae, Awahou
Wiremu Maihi Te Rangikaheke, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, was one of Te Arawa’s greatest scholars - a fine writer and speaker, a politician and public servant. Arapine Walker, Chris Winitana and Dr Nepia Mahuika talk about the legacy of Te Rangikaheke and perspectives on decolonising history, chaired by Te Ururoa Flavell.
Arapine Walker
Dr Nēpia Mahuika
Chris Winitana
Venue: Hurungaterangi
Paraone Gloyne
Te Kura o Rotohokahoka Western Heights High School
Paula Morris
Venue: Tama-Te-Kapua Marae, Ōhinemutu
Māori language advocate, Paraone Gloyne, leads an evening of learning, writing and performing Ngā Mōteatea along with teacher and composer Tenga Rangitauira, and Rangitihi Pene.
Paraone Gloyne
Tenga Rangitauira
Ruamata
Ben Ngaia
Venue: Rautāwhiri Rotorua Girls High School
Paula Morris
Venue: Te Pākira Marae, Whakarewarewa
Mākereti Papakura was best known as a guide and entertainer. However, she was also a writer, her book The Old-time Maori was published in 1938. The panel feature sisters Dr Keri-Anne Wikitera and Nari Faiers who will speak about their research on Mākereti. The night also includes a kōrero from Tā Dr Tīmoti Kāretu from his writing experiences of many years.
Dr Tā Tīmoti Kāretu
Keri-Anne Wikitera
Nari Faiers
Te Koutu
Pania Tahau-Hodges
Venue: Raukura Rotorua Boys High School
Michael Bennett
Venue: Te Aka Mauri, Rotorua Library
Becky Manawatu, Okham NZ Book Award winner 2020 and Cassie Hart, writer of speculative fiction, are joined by award-winning screen-writer, director and author Michael Bennett.
Becky Manawatu
Michael Bennett
Cassie Hart
Whangamarino
Pania Tahau-Hodges
Western Heights High School
Shilo Kino
Rotorua Lakes High School
Pania Tahau-Hodges
Venue: Te Tākinga Marae, Mourea
Professor Rangi Matāmua talks about his tupuna and the original manuscript which became an important resource for his work. Dr Matāmua’s book Matariki - The Star of the Year explores what Matariki was in a traditional sense, so it can be better understood and celebrated in our modern society.
Dr Rangi Matamua
Patricia Grace in conversation with Anahera Gildea
Te Aka Mauri, Rotorua Library
Patricia Grace
Whiti Hereaka and Shilo Kino are two of a new generation of Māori writers. Whiti won the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2022 with her novel Kurangaituku.
Te Aka Mauri, Rotorua Library
Shilo Kino
Whiti Hereaka
Stacey Morrison makes learning Māori language an easy, safe and fun experience.
Te Aka Mauri, Rotorua Library
Stacey Morrison
Decolonisation is a term that alarms some and gives hope to others. Rebecca Kiddle and Mike Ross provide real-life examples of decolonisation in practice.
Te Aka Mauri, Rotorua Library
Dr Michael Ross
Dr Rebecca Kiddle
Qiane Matata-Sipu talks about her experience self publishing her book Nuku – Stories of 100 Indigenous Women.
Rotorua Arts Village
Qiane Matata-Sipu
It is a shameful fact that only 5% of academic staff in universities are Māori. Professor Jacinta Ruru and Dr Maria Bargh talk about what being Māori has meant for them in their work in tertiary institutions and for their own iwi.
Te Aka Mauri, Rotorua Library
Prof. Jacinta Ruru
Dr Maria Bargh
Founder of Huia Publishers, Robyn Bargh, provides some insights to the process of getting published.
Rotorua Arts Village
Robyn Rangihuia Bargh
Dr Hinemoa Elder and Dr Ngahuia Murphy in discussion with Qiane Matata-Sipu about their books Aroha and Te Awa Atua.
Te Aka Mauri, Rotorua Library
Dr Hinemoa Elder
Dr Ngahuia Murphy
The inimitable Ruby Solly - Kai Tahu musician, taonga puoro practitioner, music therapist and writer.
Mcleods Booksellers
Ruby Solly
Celebrating the end of the festival with sisters Kārena and Kasey Bird talking about their journey as chefs and writers. The special night of celebration features Te Kapa Haka o Tūhourangi Ngāti Wāhiao accompanied by live music by local artists.
Millenium Hotel Rotorua
Kasey Bird
Kārena Bird
