ROSS CALMAN (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa-ki-te-tonga, Ngāi Tahu) is a freelance writer, editor, researcher and translator. He was born in Upper Hutt and spent his childhood between Auckland, Taranaki and Rotorua. He now lives in Christchurch with his wife Ariana, and they have two adult children.

He studied English literature at the University of Canterbury and te reo Māori and iwi and hapū studies at Te Wānanga o Raukawa in Ōtaki, before embarking on a career in government and publishing, specialising in te reo and kaupapa Māori.

In parallel with this he has also been a prolific author, including revising classic reference works on Māori subjects by A.W. Reed. He has written introductory books on the Treaty of Waitangi and the New Zealand Wars, and numerous articles on historical topics for the School Journals and for Te Ara. One of his School Journal articles was reworked into the highly successful graphic novel Te Tiriti o Waitangi (with Mark Derby and Toby Morris, translated by Piripi Walker), published by Lift Education in 2019.

He has also translated a number of children’s books into te reo Māori, and in 2019 he was recognised with Te Toi Reo Māori, the professional translator’s qualification administered by Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, the Māori Language Commission. In 2014 Ross embarked on his most ambitious project to date, editing and translating Tamihana Te Rauparaha’s 50,000-word manuscript account of the life of his father, the great Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha. Because Ross is himself a descendant of Te Rauparaha, this was a labour of love. The project took six years to complete, with the publication of He Pukapuka Tātaku i ngā Mahi a Te Rauparaha Nui/A Record of the Life of the Great Te Rauparaha in 2020. 

In 2023 Ross received an honorary doctorate from the University of Canterbury in recognition of a ‘considerable contribution in the field of Māori history and as a preeminent researcher, editor, translator and publisher’.