writer, musician, broadcaster

He Mihi

Tēnei au e mihi atu nei, tēnā koutou katoa ngā kaitautoko kua tau mai nei ki tēnei whārangi, me kii, ki tēnei kāinga ipurangi.

He uri ahau nō Ngāi Tahu ki te moutere ātaahua rā, ki Te Wai Pounamu. Nō Ngāti Raukawa hoki, nō Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Te Āti Awa i te taha o taku pāpā. He Pākehā hoki ōku mātua - nō Ingarangi ērā tūpuna ā, i tētahi taha o te whānau o taku whāea, nō Tiamana (Oberammergau, Bavaria). I whakatipu ahau i Whakatane me Whakatū, ā, i noho mo te wā roa ki Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara me Kāpiti. I tēnei wā tonu, kei te noho ahau kei Berlin, i Tiamana.

Nō reira tēnā koutou, tēna koutou, tēna tātou katoa.

Greetings! I descend from the Ngāi Tahu tribe in the beautiful South Island, and from Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa and Te Āti Awa in the North Island. My Māori heritage is from my father's side. Both of my parents also have non-Māori heritage, from England and in the case of my mother's family, Bavaria (a little place called Oberammergau). I was raised in Whakatane and Nelson, and lived for over 20 years in Wellington and Kāpiti.

Currently I live in Berlin, in Germany, where I was Creative New Zealand Berlin Writer in Residence 2016. I am completing a PhD at the University of Potsdam with the research training group RTG Minor Cosmopolitanisms.

Thanks for stopping by!

snap happy (2009)

Hinemoana's duo with pop-rock musician and sonic artist Christine White is called ‘Taniwha’, and their inaugural outing was at WOMAD Taranaki in 2009. 

A noteable feature of Taniwha’s sound is a percussion instrument they call The Workbench – purpose built by Christine out of a Black and Decker workbench, some small contact microphones and a range of kitchen utensils, including a cheese grater and a couple of oven racks. 

'Taniwha' released their first album, 'Snap Happy', in 2008. 

kōiwi kōiwi | bone bone (2010)

Hinemoana's second book, 'kōiwi kōiwi | bone bone' (Victoria University Press) was launched in 2010. The cover features artwork by Arana Horncy. 

'Each poem is not an exercise in what words can do but is a carefully crafted lyric that sings small parts of the world into shimmering life.'

(Paula Green, New Zealand Herald)

Hinemoana's writing has been published in many New Zealand and international anthologies, including the respected literary journals ‘SPORT’, ‘Turbine’ and 'Best New Zealand Poems’.

waha | mouth (2014)

‘I’d like to think that opening this book to read is like standing at the mouth of a cave, or a river, or a grave, with a candle in your hand.’ – Hinemoana Baker

Grief, death, infertility – Hinemoana Baker confronts a personal and societal darkness in this new collection of poems but does so with surprising humour and with an eye that seeks out the unlikely image, an ear that forces us to hear afresh the strangeness in our everyday language.

Latest Release

funkhaus

funkhaus (2020)

Don’t ask me to speak for the nations, we shift
the hate with the light from our fascinators

A queer / takatāpui Māori writer living in Berlin, Germany since 2015, Hinemoana Baker brings a unique perspective both to and from the ‘global North’. Drawing on the German meaning of the word ‘funken’ – to send a radio signal – her latest collection broadcasts unsettling songs of rebirth, love, friendship and alienation across homes and languages, to the living and to the dead.

Funkhaus is home to big, punchy poems and shimmering delicacy, as well as Hinemoana’s trademark humour. This book invites readers to tune out the crackle and static, and dial in their own receivers to a signal that has travelled a long way to reach them, no matter where they are.

The polaroid grows branches, colours and
cousins, rivers, mountains twist and pose
on the high-stepping stiletto
red carpet

puāwai (2004)

Hinemoana's first album ‘puāwai’ (Jayrem Records , 2004) was a finalist for the folk category of the NZ Music Awards in 2005, and the title track was a finalist for the Māori language category of the prestigious APRA Silver Scroll Awards that same year.

She has shared stages with a range of well-known performers and writers, from poets laureate Bill Manhire and  Jenny Bornholdt to iconic New Zealand musicians Don McGlashan, Mahinaarangi Tocker and Kiri Te Kanawa.

'A must-have piece of New Zealand.'

(review of 'puāwai' in Air New Zealand Magazine)

• mātuhi | needle (2004)

Hinemoana's first book of poetry,‘matuhi | needle’ (2004) was published in Aotearoa New Zealand by Victoria University Press, and in the US by Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen’s publishing house, Perceval Press. Viggo became aware of Hinemoana's writing at an poetry event in Wellington in 2003. 'mātuhi' is a hard-cover, full-colour production, featuring artwork by Ngāi Tahu artist Jenny Rendall, and a CD of Hinemoana reading some of the poems (plus a bonus song from 'puāwai').