April 08, 2014
Rangitukia story wins reo prize
Keri Kaa has won the inaugural Maori Language award in this year’s New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
Her entry Taka Ki Ro Wai is based on her observation of the relationship between a horse and a pig in her home town of Rangitukia on the East Coast.
It’s illustrated with photography by Martin Page.
Keri Kaa says she learned a lot about writing by working on books by Patricia Grace, Robyn Kahukiwa and Katerina Mataira.
"And you learn a lot from seeing what other people have written and how they have written but the thing I always found frustrating was there was very little done in te reo from the thoughts of a Maori mind so it remains tuturu to the people in te reo and the language that I used is actually the way it is spoken here which is a little bit different to the way people speak in other places," she says.
Keri Kaa says she’s gratified by the enthusiastic response Taka Ki Ro Wai has had in Rangitukia.
The finalists for the children’s book awards also includes Whiti Hereaka of Tuwharetoa and Te Arawa, whose book Bugs is in the Young Adult Fiction section.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH KERI KAA CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MTY5ODc=
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