Rotorua publishers win top award for te reo book

Rotorua publishers and illustrators Martin Page and Tania Short with a copy of Taka Ki Ro Wai.

A children's book written in te reo Maori and published by a Rotorua duo has won a prestigious national award.

The book, Taka Ki Ro Wai, written by East Coast author Keri Kaa, won the Maori Language category in the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults announced this week.

The book's publishers and illustrators were Martin Page and Tania Short.

"We are both thrilled to bits to win," Tania says.
"We're absolutely over the moon."

Winning the award meant the book would receive valuable publicity nationally and put more copies in book stores around the country, Tania says.

Taka Ki Ro Wai (Fell in the Water) is currently stocked by Rotorua independent bookseller McLeods Booksellers.

The Maori Language award, included in the finalists categories for the first time this year, recognises excellence in works published wholly in te reo Maori.

The award reflects the growing number of quality entries of children's books in the Maori language.
Taka Ki Ro Wai was submitted for the award in one of the four main categories and nominated for the Maori Language award.

"Author Keri Kaa has written a moving and beautifully presented true story set in the North Island's east coast community of Rangitukia involving a horse, a pig and the innate understandings of life between species," judges said.

Book awards judge Maraea Rakuraku says the book set the bar exceedingly high for the new award.

"This book is a delight and children and adults alike will respond to the Maori-centric story told in te reo rangatira," she says.