She was born in Wellington and was educated at Wellington Girls’ College and Wellington Teachers’ College where she graduated with a Diploma of Teaching. She has taught in Wainui-o-mata as an Itinerant Teacher of Māori and in Petone in a Māori language enrichment class. She has worked as a training co-ordinator for the National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges. She currently works for the Early Childhood Development Unit. She writes children’s writing and children’s waiata. "Kahuku" was shortlisted for the New Zealand Library Association’s Young People’s Non-Fiction Award in 1992.
Biographical sources
- Correspondence with Tarrant on 25 Nov. 1992.
- Correspondence with Tarrant on 25 Nov. 1992.
Other
- He Aha To Pirangi? Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, N.Z.: [Māori and Islands Education Division, Dept. of Education], 1984.
- Māori language text for children with a short glossary in Māori and English at the conclusion.
- Nga Korora. Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, N.Z.: [Māori and Islands Education Division, Dept. of Education], 1984.
- Māori language text for children with a short glossary in Māori and English at the conclusion.
- "Nga Kororā." School Journal 2.3 (1984): 28-29.
- Māori language text in cartoon form.
- "I Nga Ra O Mua." Reflections of Te Awa Kairangi. Audiocassette. 1986.
- "Ngā Kaiwhakatangitangi." Illus. Penny Martin. School Journal 2.1 (1987): 20-22.
- Māori language text in cartoon form developing vocabulary for simple greetings and asking the names of musical instruments.
- Kahuku. Na Lorraine Tarrant nga kōrero me nga whakaahua [Writ. And illus. Lorraine Tarrant]. He Purapura Ser. Whanganui a Tara, Wellington, N.Z.: Te Pou Taki Kōrero, Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga, 1990.
- A Māori language text for children which records the eleven stages of the life-cycle of a chrysalis as it develops into a monarch butterfly. Included with the text are Teachers’ Notes which provide a Māori-English translation of the text, and nga kupu/a word list.
- "Ko Enei Aku Tamariki." Reflections of Te Awa Kairangi. Audiocassette. 1991.
- Erai, Michelle, Fuli, Everdina, Irwin, Kathie and Wilcox, Lenaire. Māori Women: An Annotated Bibliography. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Michelle Erai, Everdina Fuli, Kathie Irwin and Lenaire Wilcox, 1991. 32.
- "Kahurangi." Waiata Pipi: Songs for the Very Young. Audio Production Unit, Dept. of Education. Audiocassette. 1998.
Traditional
- "Kohanga Reo." Tu Tangata 19 (1984): 9-11. Rpt. as "Te Aouru - The Dawning." National Education 66.4 (Sept. 1984): 140-141. Rpt. in Nga Kete Waananga...Readers in Māori Education: "Māori Perspectives of Taha Māori". Ed. Graham Smith. [Auckland, N.Z.]: Auckland College of Education, 1986.