Keri Kaa

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Hohi Ngapera Te Moana Keri Kaa (1942–26 August 2020), known as Keri Kaa, was a New Zealand writer, educator and advocate for te reo Māori. She was of Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Kahungunu descent.

Kaa was born in Rangitukia on New Zealand’s East Cape and grew up as one of 12 children. Her father, Reverend Tipi Whenua Kaa, was vicar of the Waiapu parish, and her mother Hohipene Kaa came from Wairoa. Her brothers and sisters included Hone Kaa, Arapera Blank and Wi Kuki Kaa.

She went to Queen Victoria School for Māori Girls and Auckland Girls’ Grammar. After a year in the United States on an American Field Service scholarship, she studied at Ardmore Teachers’ College, where in her second year she became the first woman to be College President. She earned a teaching diploma in 1964 and, in 2013, completed a Master of Arts at Te Wānanga o Raukawa.

Kaa taught at primary schools in Rangitukia, Wellington and the Hawke’s Bay, and at Wellington High School. She also taught in secondary schools in the Hutt Valley. For 15 years she was a lecturer at Wellington Teachers College and helped establish the college marae, Te Ako Pai. While in Wellington, she was involved with Māori arts groups and translations of important works into Māori, including Patricia Grace’s The Kuia & the Spider (translated with Hirini Melbourne) and, at Te Ako Pai, Keri Hulme’s The Bone People.

After returning to Rangitukia, Kaa taught and studied at the Te Wānanga o Raukawa campus at Hicks Bay. She also worked in Māori theatre, film and television. In 2010 she was profiled by Māori Television in a series on Māori leaders, and she received two special awards from Women in Film and Television NZ.

As a language advocate, Kaa wrote the children’s book Taka Ki Ro Wai in the Waiapu Māori dialect. It won the inaugural Māori language category in the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and was recognized in the National Design Awards. The book was noted by the German Internationale Jugendbibliothek for its universal theme and style.

Kaa died on 26 August 2020, aged 78.