Manaia Tuwhare-Hoani

Photographer: Symphony Morunga

Photographer: Te Rawhitroa Photography

TOKI TANGATA, TOKI TANIWHA, TOKI ARIKI View work here

TAIOHI 2023

Ko Papatara te tohunga
Ko Nukutawhiti te rangatira
Ko Ngātokimatawhaorua te waka
Ko Hokianga-Whakapau-Karakia te moana
Ko Wairoro te awa
Ko Omapere te roto
Ko Te Pūtahitanga-o-ngā-raurangatira te maunga
Ko Kohewhata te marae
Ko Puhi Moana Ariki te whare tūpuna
Ko Hoana te whare kai
Ko Ngāti Tautahi te hapū
Ko Ngāpuhi te iwi
Ko Wharepaepae te waahi tapū
Ko Moana Tuwhare tōku māmā

Manaia Tuwhare-Hoani, he uri whakaheke nō Ngāpuhi, nō Ngātiwai, ā, he tamaiti i tupu ake ki Te Pū o te Wheke Te Kaikohekohe. She is a young wahine Māori spoken word poet with a passion for storytelling. She does this as part of the poetry collective, Ngā Hinepūkōrero.

She is a mokopuna of Poet Hone Tuwhare. Manaia’s first language was Te Reo Māori and she had to teach herself how to read and write in English by reading his books/poems. She is a facilitator and youth development worker for a youth organization called Action Education, they run the inter highschool poetry competition in Tāmaki and facilitate Spoken Word workshops in schools all across Aotearoa. Her goal is to move back to Te Tai Tokerau and introduce that mahi into the kura whānui of Ngāpuhi Nui Tonu.

Manaia uses spoken word to connect to her whakapapa and as a platform to bring unspoken mana Māori issues and topics to light, to explore and expand her own creativity and identity within her culture and to bring that into the classroom.