Tokorua ngā kaituhi Māori kua whakawhiwhia ki ngā tohu mō te tuhi pukapuka ki te pō whakamānawa a Ockham, arā ko Tā Pou Temara rāua ko Tina Makereti.
I te pō o te Wenerei, karapinepine ai ngā kaituhi pukapuka o Aotearoa ki Tāmaki Makaurau, ki te whakahōnore i ngā kaituhi pukapuka o Aotearoa.
I te tau 1968, i tū tuatahi ai te pō tuku tohu nei, ko te Wattie Book Awards tōna ingoa i taua wā rā, ā, nō te tau 2015, ka whakarerekēhia ki te ingoa Ockham Book Awards.
Te Mūrau o te Tuhi - Tā Pou Temara
Nō Ngāi Tūhoe a Tā Pou Temara KNZM, ka mutu, kua whakanuia a Tā Pou ki te tohu, ki Te Mūrau o te Tuhi, mō tana pukapuka Te Āhua o Ngā Kupu Whakaari a Te Kooti, he pukapuka e āta ruku nei i te hōhonutanga o ngā kupu whakaari a Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki, kei roto katoa i te reo Māori.
Hei tāna, me mihi ka tika ki ngā kaiwhakahaere o te kaupapa nei, ā, ahakoa he pukapuka reo Māori tēnei, ko tana hiahia, kia whakapākehātia e ia tēnei pukapuka.
“Me tuhi anō ki te reo, e hiahia ana koe ki te tuhi, me ngā tikanga katoa o tērā reo, hei whakaatu i te māramatanga.”
“Kei te hiahia au ki te tuhi i te pukapuka nei ki roto i te reo Pākehā, ka tuhia tonutia e au te pukapuka nei i te reo Pākehā a tōna wā.”
“Ehara i te whakamāoritanga, kāhore.”
Ehara i te mea he tauhou a Temara ki tēnei kaupapa, otirā ki tēnei wāhanga o te whakataetae, nō te tau 2024 ko ia te toa o te wāhanga o Te Mūrau a te Tuhi mō tana pukapuka Te Rautakitahi o Tūhoe ki Ōrākau.
Ko Rangi Mātāmua tētahi o te tira i haere ki te tautoko i tā Pou whakawhiwhi ki tēnei tohu.
Hei tāna, ahakoa kua whitū tekau mā aha atu rānei ōnā tau, he hinengaro kokoi tonu tōna.
“Kei te kite tātou, kua kaumātua haere, engari, kei te koi tonu te hinengaro, e mōhio ia ki ngā kōrero. Ka noho ia ka whakarongo ki ngā kōrero, kei te koi tonu.”
“Engari ko ngā mate kaumātua, kua pā ki te tinana.”
Tina Makereti wins top non-fiction award
Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore) expressed surprise at being named the winner of the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards General Non-Fiction Award for her book This Compulsion in Us.
Given the breadth and range of the category, she said she did not expect to win.
“This book is partly about growing up in poverty, both material and cultural, and it’s about how creativity has the potential to return power to the survivors of colonialism,” Makereti said ahead of her reading, before the award was announced.
“The moment we are living through right now is one of great crisis and peril, perpetuated by the financial powers and governments of the world, including our own.”
Still, she said she was delighted, noting the 15 years it took to complete the work and that it reflects both her life and her writing.
“It’s also about my tūpuna, my whakapapa, my whānau, so having that recognition is really quite personal,” she said.
“I had a tangi on stage because it felt so personal. You don’t really think about people reading it until something like this happens.”
Last week, it was announced that Makereti had received the Te Tupu Hauroa Development Grant from the Māori Literature Trust, which she will use to travel to the United Kingdom next month.
There, she will attend festivals and a symposium, and discuss Māori literature and her novel The Mires.
Read and watch the Te Ao Māori News interview with Tina Makereti on her third novel The Mires, which explores single motherhood, racist extremism, and the climate crisis.
