Welcome to Māori Language Week 2026!
Welcome, Māori Language Week 2026!
Read the original te reo Māori version of this article here.
Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2026 is a special one for me, as it marks the publication of my new short-story collection, Waka Aroha (AUP, $35). It is, apparently, the first adult collection of short stories in te reo. Waka Aroha is for all reo speakers, but I have focused in particular on serving those who are at intermediate level and above.
My goal in writing this book was to create contemporary stories that rangatahi and adult learners of te reo would enjoy. I also wanted to minimise blocks to comprehension. So the stories are linear, one-act structures with lots of dialogue pushing the narrative forward. Words and phrases that might trip people up are footnoted.
Here’s the backstory to this book. I have always loved reading and writing and trained as a journalist. I started learning te reo in earnest in my mid-30s, and as my skills improved, I went looking for reo books to read. There was very little for intermediate-level speakers, much to my frustration.
In my 40s, in 2016, I did a creative writing course in te reo Māori at AUT and enjoyed it. I thought maybe there was a role for me to write stories for other learners like me.
I entered the first story I wrote in the Pikihuia Awards in 2017, and it was published in Huia Short Stories 14! That was very encouraging, so I kept going. Waka Aroha is the result. However, we are still very short of creative writing for rangatahi and adults in te reo.
Ten years ago, when I was looking for reo books to read, I found out that the Ministry of Education publishes amazing original reo stories for whare kura students. But they were available only to teachers through the website Down the Back of the Chair.
How frustrating! However, every now and then, these books would turn up in second-hand shops or on Trade Me, and I would pounce on them.
When I was asked to do this editorial, I thought it was a good opportunity to ask the Ministry of Education why its fabulous resources weren’t more widely available.
Antony Harvey, General Manager, Business Operations Te Poutāhū | Curriculum Centre told me that its funding for original books in te reo has to focus on the needs of students in immersion education, and of course that’s fair enough.
However, he also said that the ministry recognises there’s growing demand outside compulsory education for high-quality reo Māori literature, and more recently, it has been making some of its reo Māori resources available to the public. Yay!
So below are some links to these resources. Some of these rauemi are available only to teachers, but there is still plenty of interesting reading available to anyone.
Rārangi Pukapuka: There a wide range of fiction and non-fiction here. My favourite collection is called Te Wharekura, 1960-2012. It’s aimed at Year 11-13. Among the writers of earlier editions are esteemed rangatira no longer with us, among them Hirini Moko Mead, Katerina Te Heikōkō Mataira and Meri Penfold. My favourites are the early editions, as they have some gorgeous artwork.
Te Aho Ngārahu: These are iwi stories developed by iwi to ensure local knowledge is available to students. This was started in 2017, so there are lots of videos and app stories. My favourite app story so far is called Te Pura, about the taniwha of the Wairoa River from the perspective of Ngāti Kahu.
It’s got a nice soundtrack and visuals. There’s also a wordfinder game and quiz to check you’ve understood the story.
Enjoy!
Atakohu
Dr Atakohu Middleton (Waikato, Pākehā) has worked as a reporter and feature writer for three decades. She held the Commonwealth Press Union Harry Brittain Fellowship for New Zealand in 2005 while working at the New Zealand Herald and has won six national media awards for news and feature writing. She has also been a senior lecturer at AUT. Her first book, Kia Hiwa Rā! Māori Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand (Huia Publishers, 2023), was based on her PhD thesis. Her collection of short stories in te reo Māori, Waka Aroha: He Kohinga Pakipoto has just been published by Auckland University Press.
