Keri Kaa

Hohi Ngapera Te Moana Keri Kaa (194226 August 2020) was a New Zealand writer, educator, and advocate for the Māori language. She was of Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Kahungunu descent.

Family and education

Kaa was born in 1942 in Rangitukia on New Zealand's East Cape. Kaa was one of 12 children: her siblings include Hone Kaa (1941–2012), Anglican church leader and child welfare advocate; Arapera Blank (1932–2002), a writer and poetl and Wi Kuki Kaa (1938–2006), an actor.

Kaa attended Queen Victoria School for Māori Girls and Auckland Girls' Grammar. She spent a year in America after high school on an American Field Service scholarship and then attended Ardmore Teachers' College where in her second year she became the first woman to be the College President. She graduated with her teaching diploma in 1964; in 2013 she completed a Master of Arts through Te Wānanga o Raukawa.

After returning to Rangitukia, Kaa both taught and studied at the Te Wananga o Raukawa campus at Hicks Bay. Her contribution was recognised in 2010 when she was profiled by Māori Television for their series on Māori leaders 'E Tu Kahikitea'. Her contribution was also recognised with two special awards from WIFT (Women in Film and Television) New Zealand. The book was selected by the German Internationale Jugendbibliothek (International Youth Library) in its annual list of 'recently published books considered noteworthy due to their universal theme or their exceptional artistic and literary style'.

Kaa died on 26 August 2020, aged 78.

Awards and recognition 2016 Ngā Tohu ā Tā Kingi Ihaka (Lifetime of service to Māori arts), 2016 Creative New Zealand Te Waka Toi Awards 2014 Inaugural Māori Language Award for the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2013 Women in Film & Television (WIFT) New Zealand Mana Wahine Award 2012 Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori and the arts, in the 2013 New Year Honours 2010 WIFT Te Whaea Whakaata Taonga Award 2000 Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service in the 2001 New Year Honours