Ngā Hine Pūkōrero Photo: Supplied
Ngā Hine Pūkōrero are a performance poetry group are from Ngā Puna o Waiōrea, the Te Reo Maori immersion kura at Western Springs College.
In 2018, Ngā Hine Pūkōrero competed against 44 other high school teams to be crowned the grand slam champions of 'Word - The Front Line', the largest poetry slam in Aotearoa. Two months later they also won the Trans-Tasman Poetry Youth Slam in Melbourne.
These victories have secured them an invitation to the world's biggest youth poetry slam. In July they will travel across the Pacific to share their voices with the world at the 2019 Brave New Voices (BNV) Youth Poetry Festival in the United States.
Ngā Hine Pūkōrero are Arihia Hall, 17 yrs (Te Arawa Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Tūkorehe); Terina Wichman-Evans, 17 yrs (Ngapuhi, Ngati-Whatua, Te Au Pouri); Matariki Bennett, 16 yrs (Te Arawa, Ngati Pikiao, Ngati Whakaaue) and Manaia Tuwhare-Hoani, 16 yrs (Ngapuhi, Ngati Tautahi ki Kaikohe & Te Popoto ki Utakura, Ngati Wai Mai Mokau/Whangaruru) the great-granddaughter of the great New Zealand poet Hone Tuwhare.
The group has a Givealittle page to fundraise for their trip to the US, details here.
