About the Author

I whanau mai a Timoti Sam Karetu i te tau 1937. He mea whangai ia e Mauwhare raua ko Tame hei tamaiti ma raua. Ko Waikaremoana te kainga i tipu ake ai a Timoti, a taitama rawa ake, katahi ia ka kuraina ki te Kareti o Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara i te tau 1952 ki te tau 1956. No konei, ka rongo ia i tona ngakaunui ki te ako i te reo Pakeha, tae atu ano hoki ki te reo Wiwi me te reo Tiamana.

I te tau 1959, ka whakawhiwhia ki a Timoti te Tohu Paetahi e Te Whare Wananga o Wikitoria, a, ka pau te rua tau ona e whakaako ana ki Te Kura Tuarua o Taumarunui, ka whakawhiti a Timoti ki Ingarangi, ki te Komihana Teitei o Aotearoa. Nona i reira, ka whakaturia te kapa haka o Ngati Ranana kua eke tonu nei ki tona 60 tau.
1972 te tau ka tu ia hei Ahorangi tuatahi mo te Tari Maori o Te WhareWananga o Waikato. I taua wa, ka eke tana kapa haka, a Te Whare Wananga o Waikato, ki nga taumata toa i nga whakataetae a-rohe, a-motu ano hoki. I whakaputaina hoki tana pukapuka, a Te Reo Rangatira, e whakamahia tonutia ana e nga kaiako huri i te motu.
Nawai, ka karangatia ia hei Toihau, hei Tiamana tuatahi mo Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori. Ko etahi o a ratou mahi, ko te whakatu i nga Kura Reo, ko te waihanga kupu hou, ko te tapa ingoa Maori mo nga tari kawanatanga, ko te whakaputa i ta ratou nupepa, i a He Muka, ko te kokiri hoki kia tu Te Tau o Te Reo Maori i te tau 1995.
I taua wa ano, ka noho a Timoti hei Tiamana mo nga whakataetae kapa haka a-motu e kiia nei inaianei, ko Te Matatini, a, ka puta tana pukapuka, a Haka - he tohu whenua rangatira e whakaahua ana i nga momo haka a te Maori.
Mai i te tau 1999 ki te tau 2019, ka noho a Timoti hei mema, hei Tiamana hoki mo te poari o Te Kohanga Reo. I te tau 2003, i raro i te maru o Te Wananga o Aotearoa, ko Timoti te kaitarai i te waka o Te Panekiretanga o Te Reo, ko ona hoa hautu ko Takuta Wharehuia Milroy raua ko Ahorangi Pou Temara. E rua ona tohu kairangi honore na Te Whare Wananga o Wikitoria me Te Whare Wananga o Waikato i tuku.
E hia ke nei nga pukapuka i whai wahi atu ai ia hei kaituhi ranei, hei kanohi homiromiro ranei, hei kaupapa tonu ranei. Kua roa ia e tonoa ana e nga iwi o Aotearoa, o te ao whanui hoki ki te kauhau i ona tohungatanga i te reo.
He maha nga waiata me nga haka kua titoa e ia ma nga kapa toa o Te Matatini, ka mutu, no te tau 2019, ka riro nana i whakamaori nga waiata rongonui o Aotearoa i enei wa.
He mea whakawhiwhi a Timoti ki nga tohu huhua mo ana mahi whakarewa i te kairangi o te reo, tae atu ki te tohua ona hei Ta i te tau 2017.
Ko tetahi o ona tino mangari ko tana noho i te taha o nga kaumatua tino matau ki te reo me nga tikanga Maori, tae atu ki te haka, penei i a Te Rangihau, i a Ngoingoi Pewhairangi, i a Hamuera Mitchell, i a Miria Simpson, i a Matutaera Ihaka, i a Mate Kaiwai, me te momo i a ratou.

Dr Sir Timoti Karetu QSO, KNZM (Ngai Tuhoe, Ngati Kahungunu) has been a key driving force for literature in te reo Maori as well as Maori language education for more than 60 years.

He founded the Department of Maori Studies at the University of Waikato and served as the Chair and Professor until 1992. He was appointed the first commissioner of the Maori Language Commission in 1987 and served in that role until 1999. He has been the Chairman of the Performing Arts Festival (now known as Te Matatini), Te Mangai Paho and Te Kohanga Reo National Trust. The University of Victoria awarded him an honorary degree in 2003 and the University of Waikato in 2008.

His writing and teaching have driven the renaissance of the written and oral language, with his work leading Te Panekiretanga o Te Reo (The Institute of Excellence in the Maori Language) enabling the development of a new cohort of te reo Maori writers and translators who are now producing books in te reo Maori for children and adults.

Sir Timoti's own books are classics in the field. They include Te Reo Rangatira: A Course in Maori for sixth and seventh forms, first published in 1974 and still in print; Haka: Te Tohu o te Whenua Rangatira (Reed, 1993), and the collaboration in te reo Maori with Wharehuia Milroy, He Kupu Tuku Iho: Ko te Reo Maori te Tatau ki te Ao (AUP, 2018), winner of the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, Te Murau o te Tuhi - the Maori Language Award. He is also the translator of Witi Ihimaera's Whale Rider/Te Kaieke Tohora as well as many other works and editor of the Reed Concise Maori Dictionary, the Reed Book of Maori Proverbs and other titles.

Aside from his literary works, Sir Timoti is a prolific composer of Maori waiata and haka, having spent more than 60 years involved in all aspects of Maori dance arts, as a tutor, leader, performer, composer, judge, advisor and lifetime member of Te Matatini, the pinnacle of national kapa haka competition.