Nicole Titihuia Hawkins

Hawkins is a high school teacher, teaching English, social sciences and tikanga Māori. She has organised literary events such as Rhyme Time, a regional youth event, and Poetry with Brownies to encourage youth and indigenous poets to perform their original poetry.^[1]

In 2022 her first book of poetry, Whai, won the Jessie Mackay Prize for best first book of poetry at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.^[2][3]

Hawkins affiliates to Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa and Ngāti Pāhauwera iwi.^[4]