Te Kaituhi Māori
Nau mai, haere mai ki te kāhui o ngā kaituhi Māori.
Welcome to Te Kaituhi Māori, the new organisation for Māori writers. Formally established this year, the co-chair is author Regina de Wolf Ngarimu. The committee includes writers Michelle Rahurahu and Perena Quinlivan. Patrons are past-President of Honour Witi Ihimaera and Haare Williams writer and rangatira o te reo.
Te Kaituhi Māori is an exciting evolving space designed to bring together, support, and uplift the voices of kaituhi from across the motu and beyond. It hopes to develop an inclusive and collaborative, rather than competitive, kaupapa with Māori-led organisations publishers, libraries and festivals having significant Māori components, the Māori Literature Trust, Te Hā o Nga Pou Kaituhi, Kotahi Rau Pukapuka and so on. As well, it expects to widen involvement of Māori literary practitioners previously not catered for in te reo including te reo translators, academia, film, television and other electronic media. This will be their atamira.
The first major undertaking by Te Kaituhi Māori was the holding of a wānanga at Ōrongomai Marae, Upper Hutt, 3-5 May. Entitled “Tui Tui Tuhituhia (Come together, write)” the wānanga hopes to attract Māori literary practitioners to discuss the question: What is the world of Māori writers? Prominent exponents like Patricia Grace, Haare Williams and Witi Ihimaera featured talking about their careers and what it has taken to sustain themselves within the whakapapa of New Zealand literature. The wānanga offered panels discussing such topics as Who are we? What has been our trauma? What do we need to assure our future? Special events acknowledged those Māori writers like Keri Hulme and Renée who have died recently, evening readings programmes, and a “Rangatahi Speak” forum for young writers.
The wānanga is expected to inaugurate a biennial series. They will be held hand in hand with larger alternating hui, the first of which will be held at the invitation of Witi Ihimaera, at Poho-o-Rawiri marae, February 2025, with visits proposed to Rongopai and Whāngārā. The hui will offer more practical sessions, workshops and lectures on the various practices that make up Māori literature, not only contemporary but also traditional.
As well as wānanga and hui, Te Kaituhi Māori will be offering professional development wānanga – both kanohi ki te kanohi, and online. If you wish to register your interest, or have any requests for particular topics, themes, speakers, we welcome your thoughts and feedback.
New PD for Kaituhi Māori
We’re drawing from the collective strength and knowledge our community of Māori writers to essentially create a whata for our excellence to sit on. Ruby Solly (Kāi Tahu, Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe) and essa may ranapiri have each created a toolkit module for kaituhi Māori. These modules will be living artefacts that can feed many generations of writers.
Alongside, Te Kaituhi Māori will be hosting a kōrero with experts on Intellectual Property, copyright protections and its implication for Māori exploring WAI 262 and story sovereignty.
Find out more and register your interest
NZSA Kaituhi Māori Mentor Programme
The new Kaituhi Māori Mentor Programme gives emerging writers who whakapapa Māori the opportunity to work closely with an acclaimed Māori writer as their mentor to hone their tuhituhi ability and, in the process, evolve and refine a work toward a publishable state.
Read about the 2024 recipients
NZSA Kupu Kaitiaki Programme
The aim of this kaupapa is to provide new and emerging kaituhi with valuable feedback from a skilled Kupu Kaitiaki, for the refinement of a part of a manuscript written in te reo Māori.
Read about the 2024 recipients
Join Us
Come join us on this haerenga! Not an NZSA member or already a regional branch member? Fear not e hoa, you can still join our rōpū!
To join our rōpū, and/or for pātai and pānui, please do get in touch!
This will enable us to develop a competent inclusive database, we don’t want to miss anybody out. If you are interested in serving on the committee, do let us know. We are looking for a couple more committee members right now and, also, for serving as future committee members.
We welcome you, and your whakaaro to ensure this space is as valuable and welcoming as it can be for you and kaituhi Māori katoa.
We are grateful for Matua Witi Ihimaera for helming Te Kaituhi Māori and encouraging our leadership so that we may grow it for our generation.
We also acknowledge the significant mahi, vision and tautoko of Kim Harris. Ngā mihi nunui ki a ia.
Mō mātou
Michelle Rahurahu
Michelle Rahurahu (Ngāti Rahurahu, Ngāti Tahu-Ngāti Whaoa) is a writer that was raised by tāngata turi. She is a co-editor of Te Rito o te Harakeke, an anthology of Māori voices for Ihumātao. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the IIML where she won the Modern Letters Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for the Michael Gifkins Prize for her novel manuscript Pōhara.
Michelle Rahurahu is Te Māngai Māori ki te Poari.
Perena Quinlivan
Perena Quinlivan (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi) is a Tāmaki Makaurau based writer.
With Māori, Irish, and French whakapapa, an upbringing infused with zealous Catholicism and a mother whose first language was Te Reo Māori, Perena’s worldview was shaped by the magical power of language.
Perena became a professional actor and wrote for theatre after finishing English Literature and Drama studies, and he later pursued post-graduate studies in international business, politics, and management. His fluency in Bahasa Indonesian enabled him to work in the Asia-Pacific region, on diplomatic postings and as a Sydney-based management consultant.
As a public servant in Australia and New Zealand, Perena has worked in foreign affairs, international development, Māori economic development, and the arts sector, where he had responsibility for major cultural diplomacy programmes in Europe and Asia.
Regina de Wolf-Ngarimu
Regina de Wolf-Ngarimu (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngai Tahu, Ngāti Mutunga) is a Māori author and poet from the East Coast who loves kaimoana – penname R. de Wolf. In 2022 she co-edited and published Kaituhi Rāwhiti Two: Weaving of Words with the Tairāwhiti Writers Hub, featuring over 40 writers connected to te Tairāwhiti. Active in the community, Regina encourages rangatahi to kaumatua to find their voice, preserve knowledge and publish commercial or private work. She’s published four novels, two poetry collections and appeared in three anthologies, including Ngā Kupu Wero, since 2020.
Regina is co-chair of Te Kaituhi Māori.
Witi Ihimaera
Witi Ihimaera was NZSA President of Honour in 2023. A hard-working author, with 14 novels to his credit, his recent work includes editing A Kind of Shelter and Nga Kupu Wero and publishing the 50th Anniversary edition of his first novel Tangi in a rewritten edition. He lives in Auckland.
Te Po-tahuri-mai-ki-taiao
Ki te Whai ao
Ki te Ao marama
Tihei mauri ora