The Girls in the Kapa Haka by Angie Belcher, illustrated by Debiie Tipuna, published by Penguin Random House, is the 2021 Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a much-loved book. The Girls in the Kapa Haka is a picture book first published by Reed in 2006, by Puffin in 2008, and re-issued by Penguin Random House in 2019.
The story celebrates the performance of kapa haka through telling the story of the girls who sing in a kapa haka group.
Angie Belcher is a New Zealand writer, teacher and adventurer. She is widely published and her several books for children, including The Girls in the Kapa Haka and its companion, The Boys in the Waka Ama, celebrate the culture and natural wonders of Aotearoa. Originally from Maketu, the landing site of the great Arawa canoe, Angie now lives in Rotorua. Debbie Tipuna is a children’s author and illustrator, a children’s librarian and a cool nana. She lives in Tauranga, with her husband, approximately 63 seagulls and a couple of pūkeko. Her home studio has inspiring views of the harbour and is a short walk from the beach and Opopoti (Maungatāpu) Marae. She has won a number of awards for her art and in 2017 was the inaugural recipient of the Tautoko Māori Foundation’s Basilicata art residency in Italy. A mixed media artist, Debbie especially loves working with gouache paints to convey her vibrant representations of the flora, fauna and folk of Aotearoa.
