Rangona ai ko te reo o te tira wāhine. He huinga ruri nā Maya Angelou, nā ngā Ika a Whiro o Te Panekiretanga o Te Reo.
“Mā tēnei mea, mā te kanorau, e hua mai ai tētahi whāriki rangatira tonu. Ka rerekē pea ngā tae o ōna weu me ōna aho, engari he mana ōrite tō tēnā me tēnā.”
— He whakamāoritanga i ā Maya Angelou kupu i Rainbow in the Cloud, 2014
Kua haurua rautau te roa o Maya Angelou e whakarākei ana i te ao ki ana kupu me ōna whakaaro, i hua mai ai ko te huhua o ana titonga kanorau, pukapuka mai, tuhingaroa mai, whakaari mai, ruri mai. I runga anō i te whāriki o tana ao toi, kua tuituia ngā kupu whakatuma, ki te kaikiri, ki te tohe, ki te whai ora, ki ngā wheako hoki o te wahine me te kirimangu, mā roto i tōna reo ahurei.
Kua huia ngā ruri ki ngā wāhanga e whitu e hāngai ana ki te ao tonu o Maya, e whai pānga ana anō hoki ki a ngāi Māori: te whanaungatanga, te mate kanehe, te oke o te ia rā, te kirimangu, te whakatōrea, te rere o te wā me te whakaao māramatanga.
I te pukapuka nei rere ai ko te reo o te kāhui wāhine o Te Panekiretanga o Te Reo, me ōna kanorautanga. Kuia mai, māmā mai, rangatahi mai, teina mai, tuakana mai, he wāhine kua rongo, kua kite i te ihi o te whai reo, me te wehi o te reokoretanga.
Ka titi tonu ngā kupu a te māia ki te ngākau o te hunga e āritarita ana ki te reo Māori i tēnei huinga ruri āna.
________
A selection from the collected poems of Maya Angelou, translated into te reo Māori by thirty-four wāhine from across Aotearoa.
Through her illustrious career, African American poet and civil rights leader Maya Angelou has gifted, healed and inspired the world with her words. In this pukapuka, the beauty and wairua of her poems are translated into te reo Māori by a cohort of female graduates from Te Panekiretanga o te Reo, the Institute of Excellence in the Māori Language.
This collection of ruri/poems will warm the hearts of Maya Angelou’s most ardent admirers and will also introduce new readers to the legendary poet, activist and teacher. Presented with English and Māori on facing pages, as well as poetic biographies of each translator, this book is a taonga that welcomes a literary icon to Aotearoa.