Michaela Keeble: The importance of a name

Michaela Keeble. Photo / Ebony Lamb

The View from My Window

Wellington writer Michaela Keeble was inspired to create a children’s book by her son’s thoughts (Kerehi Grace, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Porou).

I came here to Aotearoa about 15 years ago. My ancestry is German, Australian and British. I met a fella at a pub who was raising his kids in te reo Māori. And then when we had our first pēpi together, our son Kerehi, who helped write the book.

We didn’t set out to write a pukapuka. Kerehi had a lot of language when he was younger and he is really connected with Te Ao Wairua. I would write down some of the things that he’d say and then one day I felt this urge to try and write down all the things I could remember over the years, all his whakaaro [thoughts] when he was 3 and 4 years old. We wrote a story for fun and then my friend Cassandra turned it into a kids’ book, a homemade book out of cardboard for my son’s 7th birthday.

So that was how we decided that we could try to do something with it. I think that all kids have profound thoughts, they are kind of ageless and timeless and have real wisdom about them. Paku Manu Ariki Whakatakapōkai is serious, but it’s also just meant to be really funny. I hadn’t quite realised or appreciated how wise the words were until Tokerau Brown illustrated and pulled out the kind of a journey that Paku Manu Ariki Whakatakapōkai goes on. I am super-happy about Tokerau’s art about being seen by the world. I think he’s a talent. He is amazing.

An illustration by Tokerau Brown from Paku Manu Ariki Whakatakapōkai, by Wellington writer Michaela Keeble (with help from her son Kerehi Grace).

As a Pākehā writer I did feel uncomfortable having such a strong Māori title. Originally I wanted to have a title that was really plain. I was just so aware I could be offending people without knowing. Tokerau was really adamant that he should have a name that was fitting to the size of the character. Kerehi has really struggled when people can’t say his name. He hates it and it can make him really furious. We do a lot of talking about, how do you respond to people when they don’t pronounce your name correctly or shorten your name? How can you be respectful and polite? It can be really hard for a little kid.

Whakatakapōkai is also the name of a youth justice facility somewhere in the North Island. My friend was like, do you really want to have a name that’s the name of a justice facility? So we talked that through with Tokerau and we decided we were going to reclaim the name. It’s not just a name for a justice facility. It’s a beautiful name. I knew that the character should have Paku in the name because that’s Kerehi’s middle name.

And then we just made the name long. “You can call me this because this is my name. Paku Manu Ariki Whakatakapōkai.”

- As told to Shilo Kino

Paku Manu Ariki Whakatakapōkai, by Wellington writer Michaela Keeble (with help from her son Kerehi Grace). Illustrations by Tokerau Brown.

Paku Manu Ariki Whakatakapōkai, by Michaela Keeble, with help from her son Kerehi Grace, (Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Porou). (Gecko Press, $29.99) is available from September 11. Illustrator Tokerau Brown is a Rarotongan/Cook Islands Māori artist, multimedia improviser and musician, known for his Māori Pasifika Goth group art exhibitions and solo music project, “Big Fat Raro”.