Hohi Ngapera Te Moana Keri Kaa (194226 August 2020) was a New Zealand writer, educator, and advocate for the MÃÂori language. She was of NgÃÂti Porou and NgÃÂti Kahungunu descent.
Kaa was born in 1942 in Rangitukia on New Zealand's East Cape. Her father was the Reverend Tipi Whenua Kaa, from Rangitukia, who was vicar of the Waiapu parish and her mother Hohipene Kaa (formerly Whaanga) was from Wairoa. Kaa was one of 12 children: her siblings include Hone Kaa (1941âÂÂ2012), Anglican church leader and child welfare advocate; Arapera Blank (1932âÂÂ2002), a writer and poetl and Wi Kuki Kaa (1938âÂÂ2006), an actor.
Kaa attended Queen Victoria School for MÃÂori 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 WÃÂnanga o Raukawa.
Kaa taught at primary schools in Rangitukia, Wellington and the Hawke's Bay, Wellington High School, and secondary schools in the Hutt Valley. For fifteen years she was a lecturer at Wellington Teachers College, where she played a significant part in the founding and running of the college marae, Te Ako Pai. During her time in Wellington Kaa was involved with the Haeata Women's Collective (a group of MÃÂori women artists), the Herstory diary project, the Waiata Koa collective and in organising vibrant book launches, for Patricia Grace's The Kuia & the Spider Te Kuia me Te Pà «ngÃÂwerewere, which she translated into MÃÂori with Hirini Melbourne; and, at Te Ako Pai, for Keri Hulme's the bone people.
After returning to Rangitukia, Kaa both taught and studied at the Te Wananga o Raukawa campus at Hicks Bay.
In addition to her education work, Kaa was also involved in MÃÂori theatre, film-making and television. Her contribution was recognised in 2010 when she was profiled by MÃÂori Television for their series on MÃÂori leaders 'E Tu Kahikitea'. Her contribution was also recognised with two special awards from WIFT (Women in Film and Television) New Zealand.
Kaa was also a strong advocate for the MÃÂori language (te reo MÃÂori). Her children's book Taka Ki Ro Wai, written in the Waiapu dialect of MÃÂori, won the inaugural MÃÂori language category in the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and recognised in the National Design Awards for creative director Martin Page's work. The book was selected by the German (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.
Remembering Keri Kaa (1942-2020), Spiral Collectives 17 December 2021
Haeata 1983-, by Keri Kaa. Women Together â NgàRopà « WÃÂhine o Te Motu, 1993.