He uri a Hēmi Kelly nō Ngāti Maniapoto me Ngāti Tāhu-Ngāti Whāoa. I tīmata tana whai i te reo Māori nōna e taiohi tonu ana, ināianei kua tū ia hei kaiako reo Māori. Kei Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makaurau ia e mahi ana. E pā ana te nuinga o āna mahi ki te whakarauoratanga o te reo Māori me te kaupapa o te whakamāori kōrero.

He ika a Whiro a Hēmi nō Te Panekiretanga o Te Reo, kua whakawhiwhia hoki ia ki te Toi Reo Māori, arā ki te tohu kaiwhakamāori. I te tau 2017, i whakamāoritia e Hēmi tā Witi Ihimaera pukapuka ko Sleeps Standing. Ka whakaputaina tāna ake pukapuka tuatahi ko A Māori Word a Day i te tau 2018, ā, i muri iho i tērā ka puta ko A Māori Phrase a Day. Ko tāna tuhinga auaha tuatahi i tuhia ai ki te reo Pākehā kei roto i te pukapuka o Pūrākau – he kohinga pūrākau Māori nā ētahi kaituhi Māori.Ka waiho mai ko Te Ruānuku hei pukapuka tuarua kua whakamāoritia nei e Hēmi.

Hēmi Kelly is of Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Tāhu-Ngāti Whāoa descent. He started learning te reo Māori as a young teenager and naturally progressed into teaching roles after study. Hēmi is a full-time lecturer in te reo Māori at the Auckland University of Technology. His academic research and writing focus largely on the revitalisation of the Māori language and translation studies.

Hēmi is a licensed translator and graduate of Te Panekiretanga o Te Reo (The Institute of Excellence in the Māori Language). In 2017, Hēmi translated Witi Ihimaera’s novella Sleeps Standing. Recently, Hēmi has published two books of his own, A Māori Word a Day in 2018 and A Māori Phof rase a Day in 2020. Hēmi published his first creative writing piece in English in Pūrākau, a collection of Māori myths retold by Māori writers. Te Ruānuku is the second book translated by Hēmi.

Photo credit: Rāwhitiroa Photograph