Matamua ko te Kupu!

Timoti Sam Karetu was born in 1937 and raised by Mauwhare and Tame. Growing up in Waikaremoana, he attended Wellington College from 1952 to 1956, developing a love for English, French, and German.

In 1959, he graduated from Victoria University and, after teaching at Taumarunui High School for two years, moved to England to work at the New Zealand High Commission. There, he established the kapa haka group Ngati Ranana, which has continued for 60 years.

In 1972, he became the first Professor of the Maori Department at the University of Waikato. His kapa haka group, Te Whare Wananga o Waikato, achieved success in regional and national competitions. He also published his book, Te Reo Rangatira, which is still used by teachers nationwide.

He was later appointed the inaugural chairman of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori (Maori Language Commission). Their work included establishing language nests, creating new words, naming government departments in Maori, publishing their newspaper He Muka, and initiating Maori Language Year in 1995.

During the same period, Timoti chaired the national kapa haka competitions, now known as Te Matatini, and published Haka - he tohu whenua rangatira, which describes the different types of Maori haka.

From 1999 to 2019, he was a member and chairman of the Te Kohanga Reo board. In 2003, under the umbrella of Te Wananga o Aotearoa, Timoti led Te Panekiretanga o Te Reo, with colleagues Wharehuia Milroy and Pou Temara. He has received two honorary doctorates from Victoria University and the University of Waikato.

He has contributed to numerous books as an author, editor, or subject. He is frequently invited by communities in New Zealand and worldwide to share his language expertise.

He has composed many songs and haka for successful Te Matatini teams, and in 2019, he translated popular New Zealand songs.

Timoti has received numerous awards for his contributions to the Maori language, including being knighted in 2017.

He valued his time with knowledgeable elders of the Maori language and customs, including Te Rangihau, Ngoingoi Pewhairangi, Hamuera Mitchell, Miria Simpson, Matutaera Ihaka, Mate Kaiwai, and others.

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.