The Wellington publisher championing Māori voices

Kei te ara o Pipitea tētahi whare tawhito e tū ana, te whare whakaruruhau o Huia Publishers, he whare whakaputa pukapuka kei Te Whanganui-a-Tara e mahi ana kia haruru ngā reo o ngā kaituhi Māori. Kei mua tonu i te whare ko tētahi rākau mārō kaitā e tū ana. Kua tau mai a Kererū, a Tūī ki ōna pekanga rākau ki te kai, kua whātaretare atu ngā kaihautū a Eboni Waitere rāua ko Pania Tahau-Hodges i ō rāua tari.

I whakatūria i te 1991, ko te wawata mātāmua o Huia kei te rite tonu. “I whakatūria a Huia hei whakakī i ngā whārua kia iri ai ā mātou kōrero ki ngā pakitara o te ao,” te whakamārama a Pania. “Ko ngā reo Māori, ngā wheakotanga, me ngā wawata Māori. Koina tō mātou kaupapa, te whakairi i ngā kōrero o Aotearoa, kāore i rerekē ake i roto i ngā tau toru tekau mā rima kua taha atu.”

Ara atu anō ngā mahi e whakahaeretia ana e Huia, arā ngā ratonga whakamāori, te whakawhanake kōrero arumoni, te hoahoa, te tauhokohoko me te whakawhiti kōrero, ka mutu, kitea ana ngā pānga nui o ēnei mahi kia iri ai ngā reo matatini o Aotearoa hei whai kanohi atu mā te kaipānui. Neke atu i te rima rau ngā kaituhu Māori kua tānga ā rātou kupu hei iringa kōrero mā te katoa, ā, neke atu i te kotahi mano pukapuka kua tuhia ki te reo Māori. Hāunga te rite tonu o te ara ka whāia e ngā whare whakaputa kia aro noa ki tētahi momo, tētahi wāhanga motuhake o te tauhoko, kei ngā wāhi katoa a Huia e mahi ana.

Mai i ngā pukapuka pikitia mā te tamariki ki ngā pukapuka mā te rangatahi, ki ngā kōrero paki mā te pakeke, ngā tuhinga pono, ngā hītori ā-Iwi, ngā haurongo me ngā tuhinga kura wānanga. “Ko wai atu i a mātou te kawe i ngā mahi nei, “tā Pānia. “Mā wai atu hoki ā tātou kōrero e tuku?”

I ngā rā tata tonu nei, kātahi te mahi uaua te kimi i te tānga kupu a te kaituhi Māori e iri ana i ngā pae pukapuka. Ki a Eboni, kei ngā āhuatanga o te wā tonu e kitea ana i ngā painga o ngā mahi kua hua ake i roto i ngā tau maha. “Kua puta ngā ihu o ngā pia rangatahi me ngā tāura i whai mahi i konei, ā, kua kī ake rātou, ‘Ko taku tino pukapuka nā Huia i whakaputa.’” I roto ngā tau maha o ngā mahi, waipuketia ana te whenua i ngā kaituhi Māori i te mahi a Huia, i rangona ai, i kitea ai tētahi Aotearoa onāianei. “Nā mātou tonu i whakatakoto i te ara kia hua ake ngā painga,” te whakamārama mai a Eboni. Ko mātou hoki ērā e wero ana i ngā hinengaro, ngā whanonga a te tangata.”

Mai i ngā tōpito o te ao e mōhiotia ana ngā mahi a Huia, ā, e whai ana kia nui atu ngā painga ka puta. “Kei roto mātou i tētahi hōtaka rangahau a Marsden o te Whare Wānanga o Waikato, ā, e rangahau ana rātou i ā mātou pukapuka pikitia, tae atu ki ngā pānga ki te reo matatini o te Māori me te reo, te ahurea me te tuakiri.” Ahakoa ko ngā kōrero paki a Huia ngā kōrero paki a Aotearoa, kei te whai take anō ki ngā kaipānui o tāwāhi. “Kei te tukua ki te UK me te US,” te whakamārama mai a Eboni.

Kātahi anō ka whakaae tētahi wahine toa kōkiri i te mana wahine nō Berlin, he kaiwhakaputa pukapuka hoki, kia riro atu ki a ia ngā mōtika o tētahi o ā mātou pukapuka.” Ko ia nei te wahine Māori tuatahi kia noho hei amorangi mō Te Rau o Tākupu, ā, ko ia anō tērā e whai ana kia rongo mai te ao, kia koke whakamua te rāngai whakaputa o Aotearoa i te ao mā te kōtui i ngā taura tangata, me te tū hei māngai mō ā tātou mātākōrero i ngā tauhoko pukapuka.

He mea nui ki te tīma ko Te Whanganui-a-Tara te kāinga o Huia. Koinei hoki te kāinga pūrawa ahurea o Aotearoa, ā, e tata ana ki ōna kaituhi me ngā ringa toi. Ko te Kāhui Tautoko Pakihi Māori, e arahina nei e Michelle Boynton o WellingtonNZ, kua mahi tahi me Huia i roto i ngā tau me ngā kaupapa maha noa, tae atu ki te tautoko i te Regional Business Partner Network kia mātau ake rātou. “Kei runga noa atu a Michelle me te tīma o WellingtonNZ,” tā Eboni. “Nā rātou nei i tautoko, i āwhina i a mātou kia mātotoru haere te tipu. Ko rātou ērā kei tō taha, ā, kāore hoki e mutu te pātai, ‘He aha ngā āwhinatanga kei a mātou mōu?’ I ētahi wā koina te tohu kei te kimi koe e puta ai tō ihu i tētahi mahi uaua, otirā kei wareware noa koe he whai take ngā mahi e whāia nei e koe kia eke.”

Kua kore noa e mōhio i a Eboni rāua ko Pania e hia nei ngā tohu kua whakawhiwhia ki a Huia. Mō rāua ake, ko ngā tohu whakaoho i te manawa ka hua ake i ētahi atu āhuatanga. “Mō mātou ake, ka tirohia ngā huanga o ngā reo matatini o ngā tamariki Māori,” tā Eboni. “Ko aua mea iti hoki,” tā Pania. “Ka kī ana tētahi, ‘Kāore e mutu te pānui o taku tamāhine i tētahi o ā mātou pukapuka.’”

In an old wooden villa on Pipitea Street, sits Huia Publishers, a Wellington publishing house dedicated to amplifying Māori voices. In front of the villa stands an enormous hardwood. Kererū and tūī visit the branches, and co-directors Eboni Waitere and Pania Tahau-Hodges watch the birds feed from their office windows. Established in 1991, Huia’s vision has remained the same since its founding. “Huia was established to address a gap in our literary landscape,” explains Pania. “Māori voices, Māori lived experiences, and aspirations. That kaupapa of ours, sharing the stories of Aotearoa, that’s been consistent over the past thirty-five years.” 

Huia's scope extends to translation services, commercial content development, design, marketing and communications, but it is their impact on the New Zealand literary canon that is most profound. They’ve published over five hundred Māori authors and over a thousand books in the Māori language. While publishing houses traditionally focus on one genre or one part of the publishing market, Huia does a bit of everything. From children’s picture books to junior readers to adult fiction, non-fiction,  Iwi history, biographies, and academic works. “We do it because we need to,” says Pania. “We have to. If we don’t, who is going to tell our stories?” 

Not so long ago, a Māori author was difficult to find on bookshop shelves. For Eboni, the signs of change make the work worthwhile. “Now we’ve got young graduates and interns who come to work here and say, ‘My favourite childhood book was published by Huia.’” Through decades of  mahi , Huia created a groundswell of Māori authors, which has led to a literary landscape more reflective of modern Aotearoa. “We’re the ones who provided the basis for change,” explains Eboni. “We challenged behaviours and attitudes.” 

Huia have also helped push for institutional changes by publishing books that share and promote mātauranga Māori. With works exploring subjects like Matariki, they’ve brought Māori knowledge into the hands of New Zealanders. “Now Matariki is a national holiday,” says Eboni proudly. “We helped to bring it to the masses. We were part of something that’s grown. There are simple outcomes we’re trying to achieve, but the impact is far greater.”

Huia’s work has been noted far and wide, and efforts are underway to calculate that impact. “We’re part of a Marsden research program at Waikato University, where they’re looking at our picture books and the impact they’ve had on the literacy of Māori and language, culture and identity.” While Huia’s stories are Aotearoa’s stories, they still connect with overseas readers. “We’ve got distribution into the UK and the US,” explains Eboni. “A feminist publisher in Berlin just picked up the rights to one of our titles.” As the first wāhine Māori president of the Publishers Association of New Zealand, Eboni is also advocating and advancing New Zealand publishing internationally through building relationships and representing our literature at book fairs. 

Being located in Wellington is important to the Huia team. As the cultural capital of New Zealand, they’re close to their authors and artists. The Māori Business Support team, led by Michelle Boynton at WellingtonNZ, has worked closely with Huia over the years in many capacities, including through the Regional Business Partner Network to help them build capability. “Michelle and the WellingtonNZ team have been amazing,” says Eboni. “They’ve supported us and helped us grow. The team there have your back and always asks, ‘How can we help?’ Sometimes that is what you need to get through a tough patch and to remind you what you’re doing is important.”   

Eboni and Pania have lost track of how many awards Huia have won. For them, truly meaningful recognition comes in other ways. “For us, we look at outcomes like increased literacy rates amongst Māori children,” says Eboni. “It’s also the small things,” adds Pania. “Like when a person says, ‘My daughter is obsessed with one of our books.’”