Whiti Hereaka
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whitihereaka.co.nz
Whiti Hereaka
@whitihereaka.co.nz
Te Arawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Whakaue, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Tumatawera, Tainui, Pākehā. Kaituhi Māori. Author of “Kurangaituku”.
Writer of things. Popular emotional cheese dish.
She/her/ia.
www.whitihereaka.co.nz
Profile photo by Tabitha Arthur
Pinned
“Having unfurled to show you its glory You Are Here contracts and curls up on itself again. Back at the beginning. Expanding and contracting. Breathing in and breathing out.”
www.nzreviewofbooks.com/you-are-here...
You Are Here by Whiti Hereaka and Peata Larkin - Aotearoa New Zealand Review of Books
An imaginative collaboration between writer and artist that pairs 'classical mathematical theory with te ao Māori'.
www.nzreviewofbooks.com
The problem with me imagining the art my protagonist is making and then thinking of how she will make them is that now I want to make them IRL. AND YOU BARELY HAVE TIME FOR 2 CAREERS WHITI, DON’T ADD ON ANOTHER.
December 3, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Reposted by Whiti Hereaka
Wrong heading. Should be - Massive US tech companies steal from NZ authors & only compensate a few.
December 2, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Reposted by Whiti Hereaka
Every dollar JK Rowling makes from Harry Potter is going into bankrolling an extortion racket issuing legal threats to organizations across the UK to purge themselves of trans people or face ruinous lawfare.
i hope every single person who still buys harry potter merch or engages with that franchise is happy that they're literally making girl guides cry

girl guides uk have been forced very much against their will to exclude trans girls. full statement is here: www.girlguiding.org.uk/information-...
December 2, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Whiti Hereaka
Great culture can save lives. Literally.

Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard
December 2, 2025 at 8:48 AM
I got my hair trimmed today and another client complimented my hair colour, which is nice. I like that people are embracing grey now. About 12 years ago, when I had more pepper than salt, someone complimented my hair but also said I was “brave” which, to my mind, nullified the compliment.
December 2, 2025 at 2:25 AM
The other day I saw that Apple scale for aphantasia again and I keep thinking about aphantasia. It’s fascinating to me. So what I’ve been writing today (“seeing” my protagonist imagining a piece of art she will make in situ in a future exhibition) is out of their ken?
December 2, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Apparently I launched “Kurangaituku” on this day in 2021. (Which means that I would have been frantically sewing during November)
November 30, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Reposted by Whiti Hereaka
This is genocide.
'Women are afraid to get pregnant': Fighting mercury poisoning from illegal gold mining in Brazil. news.sky.com/story/women-...
'Women are afraid to get pregnant': Fighting mercury poisoning from illegal gold mining in Brazil
Munduruku people in Brazil are battling miscarriages and loss of sight and sound, a community leader tells Sky News.
news.sky.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:49 AM
November 30, 2025 at 3:48 AM
I used a hydration calculator to make rēwena. I went for 70% because I have a mixer now, but was kinda grumpy because I *like* kneading bread (but à dough that sticky is impossible to knead)
But the finished product is so light but a little chewy so perhaps I need to concede to the machine.
November 30, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Way back when, I “played” a hanged body in The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Instead of getting a harness that could hang my weight from my back (like I was hanged) they rigged a rope through the shoulder straps. As soon as it took my weight, the straps pressed into the sides of my neck strangling me. 1/2
November 28, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Past me was fully delusional about how much time I’d have over summer for reading. “Miss MacIntosh, My Darling” was delivered a couple weeks ago and “Schattenfroh” arrived today 😅
November 28, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Reposted by Whiti Hereaka
New Zealand's Minister of Education can't tell the difference between Mathematics and Social Studies.
November 27, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Did my bit for herd immunity today — another booster for COVID and MMR.
November 26, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Reposted by Whiti Hereaka
A manuscript isn't ready to be shown to a potential publisher until you've done a thorough edit, double-checked your facts, abandoned your family, shunned all friendships, and offered a suitable blood sacrifice to the demon librarians that curate the Library of Forgotten Authors
November 26, 2025 at 9:22 AM
I felt like I was dragging my feet today — but I got to the end of my manuscript and I’m happy with the shape of it (möbius) overall. Next, I need to write a few* “scenes” that are missing and then find homes for them.
*this is the lie I’m telling myself 😅
November 26, 2025 at 5:18 AM
Yay Terri! Congratulations 🥳
November 26, 2025 at 4:30 AM
The bots in my DMs really need to up their game because “hello pretty how are you doing over there pretty” is really doing nothing for me. Unless it is a parrot 🦜 messaging me, then I am intrigued.
November 25, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Reposted by Whiti Hereaka
Yesterday I was in Te Awe Library. This place and the people who work there are doing incredibly important work filling the gaps in social need left by central government cuts. Above and beyond what you might considered traditional 'library' work. This report is heartbreaking & shortsighted.
November 25, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Still thinking about pies. I might have to take a walk to Puku Pies and get one for lunch (fingers crossed that they have smoked brisket again because that was phenomenal)
Thinking about making a writing prompt for my students around “handheld meat pies”
* New Zealand takes pies (namely, handheld meat pies) so seriously that there are National Pie Awards that get major media coverage. The New Zealand National Library has a whole dedicated category for “Pies — Competitions.”

Pie.
November 25, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Whiti Hereaka
Wellington people: want to try a larp? A larp about a weird, 1920's magic carnival? A friend of mine is running a little game in February: carnival-arcane.lilregie.com/booking/atte...
Carnival Arcane - Wellington Parlour LARP
carnival-arcane.lilregie.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:19 AM
Thinking about making a writing prompt for my students around “handheld meat pies”
* New Zealand takes pies (namely, handheld meat pies) so seriously that there are National Pie Awards that get major media coverage. The New Zealand National Library has a whole dedicated category for “Pies — Competitions.”

Pie.
November 25, 2025 at 6:08 AM
I’m going to a board meeting in person this morning so instead of my hermit-writer-goblin clothes I put on a nice frock.

open.spotify.com/track/624kbg...
I Feel Pretty
open.spotify.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Whiti Hereaka
Fossil fuel companies were given confidential drafts of legislation during their (successful) two-year campaign to weaken oil and gas regulation and overturn the offshore exploration ban - new reporting from me via the OIA

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
How the oil and gas industry helped rewrite New Zealand’s drilling rules
A paper trail shows just how far ministers went to accommodate the oil and gas industry's wishlist.
www.rnz.co.nz
November 24, 2025 at 6:34 PM