Tina Makereti is a New Zealand novelist, essayist, and short story writer, editor and creative writing teacher. Her work has been widely published and she has been the recipient of writing residencies in New Zealand and overseas. Her book ''Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa'' won the inaugural fiction prize at the Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards in 2011, and ''Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings'' won the Ngā Kupu Ora Aotearoa Māori Book Award for Fiction in 2014.
Biography
Makereti was born in
Kawakawa and grew up in different parts of the North Island, including
Auckland
Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
. She studied in
Palmerston North
Palmerston North (; , colloquially known as Palmerston or Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatū Plains, the city is near the north bank of the Manaw ...
and graduated with a BA Social Sciences (1994) and PGDip Maori Studies (2007) from
Massey University
Massey University () is a Public university, public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand ...
.
In 2008, she completed an MA in creative writing at
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...
. Her MA work led to the publication of her short story collection, ''Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa.''
Her PhD in Creative Writing (2013), also from Victoria University of Wellington, used indigenous literature and perspectives to explore ideas of identity and how this is understood and transmitted following colonisation.
In 2014 she was convenor of the first Māori and Pasifika Writing Workshop (Te Hiringa a Tuhi) at the
International Institute of Modern Letters
The International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML; ) is a centre of creative writing based within Victoria University of Wellington. Founded in 2001, the IIML offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses (including a PhD in creative writing) ...
, Victoria University.
She has taught creative writing in The School of English and Media Studies at Massey University,
and since February 2020, is Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington's International Institute of Modern Letters and School of English.
Her writing has appeared in many literary journals, magazines and anthologies including ''Sport, The NZ Listener, Metro, Huia Short Stories 8, Hue and Cry, JAAM,'' ''Turbine,'' ''Overland Aotearoa'' and ''Landfall.''
She has presented her work around New Zealand and overseas in Frankfurt, Jamaica, Taipei, Toronto and the United Kingdom.
While her 2018 novel ''The Imaginary Lives of James Pōneke'' has been described as based on the life of
Hemi Pomara
Hēmi Pōmare (born c. 1831; sometimes spelled Pomara) was a man of Māori people, Māori chiefly descent. He was taken to Sydney in the early 1840s, then London in 1845–46, was shipwrecked in Barbados while on a voyage, and then returned to Ne ...
,
the Author's note to the novel is clear that the novel 'in no way represents the real historical figure'.
She is of
Ngāti Tūwharetoa
Ngāti Tūwharetoa is an iwi descended from Ngātoro-i-rangi, the priest who navigated the Arawa canoe to New Zealand. The Tūwharetoa region extends from Te Awa o te Atua ( Tarawera River) at Matatā across the central plateau of the North ...
,
Te Ati Awa, Ngāti Rangatahi,
Pākehā
''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...
and, according to family stories,
Moriori
The Moriori are the first settlers of the Chatham Islands ( in Moriori language, Moriori; in Māori language, Māori). Moriori are Polynesians who came from the New Zealand mainland around 1500 AD, which was close to the time of the ...
descent.
She lives on the Kāpiti Coast. Her daughter,
Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall, is also a writer, whose debut novel ''Tauhou'' was published in 2023.
Awards and prizes
Makereti's first book, ''Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa,'' won the inaugural fiction prize at the Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards in 2011. ''Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings'' was longlisted for the
Dublin Literary Award
The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...
2016 and won the 2014 Ngā Kupu Ora Aotearoa Māori Book Award for Fiction.
In 2009, Makereti won the non-fiction category of the
Royal Society of New Zealand
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family or royalty
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal ...
Manhire Prize for Creative Science Writing with her piece ''Twitch'' and the Pikihuia Award for Best Short Story Written in English for S''kin and Bones''.
She was Regional Winner, Pacific, of the 2016
Commonwealth Short Story Prize
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000 to 5,000 words). The prize is open to citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations aged 18 and over. The Commonwealth Short ...
with her story, 'Black Milk'.
In 2012, she was Writer in Residence at the
Museum der Weltkulturen
The Museum of World Cultures () is an ethnological museum in Frankfurt, Germany. Until 2001 it was called the Museum of Ethnology (''Museum für Völkerkunde''). It is part of Frankfurt's Museumsufer (Museum Riverbank).
History
It was found ...
in Frankfurt. During her tenure there, she opened the Frankfurt walk which featured New Zealand authors and reproduced part of the
Wellington Writers Walk.
In 2013, she was the
New Zealand Film Archive
The New Zealand Film Archive was established in 1981. On 1 August 2014 the archive was amalgamated with Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero and the Television New Zealand Archive to form Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.
2009 lost film recovery
In ea ...
Curator-at-Large, using film material such as home movie footage, news and advertisements to create a series of exhibitions exploring the social history of childhood in Aotearoa New Zealand. She was the 2014
Randell Cottage Writer in Residence and in the same year she took part in Roadwords, a literary tour of southern South Island towns, with three other writers. In 2016, she was awarded the 2016
NZSA Peter & Dianne Beatson Fellowship
The NZSA Peter & Dianne Beatson Fellowship (known informally as the Foxton Fellowship) is an annual literary fellowship in New Zealand established by Peter and Dianne Beatson in 2001.
History and conditions
The fellowship was set up by Peter an ...
.
In 2022, Tina Makereti's ''Lumpectomy'' won the Landfall Essay Competition.
Her novel, ''The Mires'', was a finalist for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2025
Ockham New Zealand Book Awards
The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder Wa ...
.
Bibliography
* ''Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa'' (Huia Publishers, 2010)
* ''Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings'' (Random House, 2014)
* ''Black Marks on the White Page'' (RHNZ: Vintage, 2017) (an anthology of Māori and Pasifika fiction, edited with
Witi Ihimaera
Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler (; born 7 February 1944) is a New Zealand author. Raised in the small town of Waituhi, he decided to become a writer as a teenager after being convinced that Māori people, Māori people were ignored or mischaracteri ...
)
* ''The Imaginary Lives of James Pōneke'' (RHNZ: Vintage, 2018)
* Landfall 244: Spring 2022, edited by Lynley Edmeades (Otago University Press, 2022)
* ''The Mires'' (Ultimo Press, 2024) ISBN 9781761153693
References
External links
Official websiteRead NZ Te Pou Muramura profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Makereti, Tina
Living people
21st-century New Zealand women writers
New Zealand Māori writers
Year of birth missing (living people)
People from the Kāpiti Coast District
People from Kawakawa, New Zealand
Massey University alumni
New Zealand Māori women
New Zealand women novelists
Women historical novelists
Ngāti Tūwharetoa people
Te Āti Awa people
Ngāti Rangitihi people
Moriori people
International Institute of Modern Letters alumni
21st-century New Zealand novelists
Historical novelists