Author talk: Roimata Smail

Think of this session as a back-fill of basic knowledge that unfortunately, most New Zealanders didn't get the opportunity to learn growing up or even now as adults. It’ll show that the Treaty is not hard to understand once you know the basic facts. You will also get a sense of what it might have felt like for tangata whenua and participate in some creative ways of absorbing this valuable content.

Author talk: Roimata Smail
Saturday 15 August, 2026
11am–12.30pm
Tautoru/TSB Space, Hapori | Community, Level 1, Tūranga

About Roimata Smail

Roimata Smail (Ngāti Maniapoto, Tainui, England, Scotland, Ireland) is a best-selling author, educator and lawyer with more than 20 years’ experience specialising in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Indigenous rights.

Her work spans domestic and international law, including advocacy at the United Nations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

In 2025, Smail prepared an urgent submission on Treaty breaches that was heard by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, generating international media attention.

In Aotearoa, she represented lead claimants in the Waitangi Tribunal inquiry that produced the landmark Hauora Report and led to the establishment of Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority.

Her legal work includes acting in high-profile kaupapa Māori claims, including the Māori Health Authority Disestablishment Priority Inquiry (Wai 3307), Constitutional Inquiry (Wai 3300), Justice Inquiry (Wai 3060) and Takutai Moana applications in the High Court and Court of Appeal.

She has also acted on claims involving Māori in prison, the removal of pēpi and tamariki by Oranga Tamariki, the Crown’s Covid-19 response, and represented the first iwi to receive an offer of Customary Marine Title from the Crown.

From a family of teachers, Smail has a longstanding commitment to education. She delivers Te Tiriti workshops treatytraining.com and has developed waiako.com, an online learning platform for schools covering Te Tiriti, New Zealand history, te reo Māori and financial literacy used by over 20,000 tamariki.

Since 2017, Smail has built Wai Ako Books into a successful Māori-owned publishing business alongside her whānau. Her best-selling pocket guide Understanding Te Tiriti was written for generations who were never taught this history at school. Since publication, more than 10,000 copies have sold, an exceptional result in the Aotearoa non-fiction market and the book has repeatedly ranked number one on Nielsen BookScan, Unity Books and NZ Listener lists.

Her latest title, Understanding Hauora, continues her mission to make complex systems clear, accessible and visually compelling. Known for their striking design and plain-language approach, Smail’s books are used in homes, schools, workplaces and wānanga across the country. “The design carries the story,” she says. “That’s how knowledge becomes accessible and empowering.”

Alongside her legal and publishing work, Smail co-created the TKP Collection with Māori artist Noelle Jakeman, translating the true principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi like Tino Rangatiratanga, Kāwanatanga and Partnership into visible, wearable educational taonga.