Katrina Te Tomo was born in Mangakino and was educated at Putaruru Primary and Intermediate Schools and at Turakino Māori Girls’ School. She continued her studies at Lower Hutt Polytech where she focused on the arts. In 1990 she married and had three daughters. She has been writing poetry for many years and has read her work in the Kings Cross Pub in Lower Hutt. She has also written short stories, but is more drawn towards poetry. She states "I’ve written lots and lots of poems about life, family, friends - even rotten landlords. I was once shy about sharing my poetry; but out of the closet and into the Library Bar."
Biographical sources
- Phone conversation with Katrina Te Tomo on 11 August 1998.
- Kings’ Cross Pub Poets II. Ed. Anne England. Lower Hutt, N.Z.: Hutt Valley Community Arts Council, 1988. 65.
Non-fiction
- "A Pale Māori Or Maybe Just A Throw-Back Of People Before" [First line] Kings’ Cross Pub Poets II. Ed. Anne England. Lower Hutt, N.Z.: Hutt Valley Community Arts Council, 1988. 3.
- The speaker reflects on how other perceive her but concludes that she’s ‘still proof of what/Happened twenty-one years ago on a sea shore.’
- "As The Years Have Gone By With The Ages Of Skies" [First line] Kings’ Cross Pub Poets II. Ed. Anne England. Lower Hutt, N.Z.: Hutt Valley Community Arts Council, 1988. 4.
- The poet contends that while some things do not diminish with the passing of time, people are subject to the vicissitudes of time and the transience of love. The poet concludes that ‘by the shedding of tears and more passing of time / they too could find a love like yours and mine.’