Author(s): Reina Kahukiwa and Robyn Kahukiwa (illustrator)

Maori

Taranga is the mother of Māui, a great cultural hero in the Māori creation narrative. Here Reina Kahukiwa recounts the birth of Māui seen through the eyes of Taranga. Exquisitely llustrated throughoutby Reina's mother, the artist Robyn Kahukiwa. This is a beautiful book that will be especially treasured by mothers and mothers-to-be

Inā te ātaahua o tēnei pukapuka. Recommending this reo rua book by Reina Kahukiwa and illustrated by Robyn Kahukiwa. Taranga's story of birthing Māui tikitiki a Taranga, from her perspective is powerful and empowering.
- Stacey Morrison

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:

Reina Kahukiwa is of Ngāti Whakaue, Te Arawa, Patuheuheu, Ngāti Haka, Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata, Ngai Tāmanuhiri, and Te Aitanga a Mahaki descent. She is the author of adults literary genre books including Manahau, and Korowai. In the young+ adult literary genre, Reina is the author of Taranga published by Little Island press in 2023. Reina is also the author of children's and whānau books including The Standing Strong House and the award-winning Te Haka a Tānerore (winner of the New Zealand Book Awards 2019). Reina has three university degrees and works as a writer, Māori advisor, manager and program designer in Māori Pathways.

Award-winning artist and children's book writer and illustrator Robyn Kahukiwa has been a prominent figure in Māori children's literature since the 1980s.
Born in Sydney, Australia in 1938, Robyn trained as a commercial artist and later moved to New Zealand at the age of nineteen. Robyn is of Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Konohi and Whanau-a-Ruataupare descent on her mother's side.
Robyn's work often deals with themes of colonialism and the dispossession of indigenous people, motherhood and blood-ties, social custom and mythology.  She gained prominence in New Zealand in the 1980s after her exhibition Wahine Toa (strong women) which toured the country.This exhibition drew on Maori myth and symbolism.
Robyn won the 1994 Young People's Non-fiction Award (now known as Elsie Locke Award) for Paikea.