Shilo Kino is a New Zealand author of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Te Ata descent. She writes fiction for both young people and adults. She is best known for her award-winning debut novel, The Pōrangi Boy (2020), and her second novel, All That We Know (2024), which reached number one on the New Zealand fiction bestseller list.
Shilo Kino grew up in Waipu, a small town in the Northland region. She grew up in a Pākehā-majority environment where her whānau were one of the few Māori families. As a child, Shilo celebrated Scottish settler culture at local events but had little connection to her iwi or language. She said, "We only went back to our marae when someone died". This cultural disconnect shaped her later life.
In 2009, she started studying journalism at university. It was during this time that she became intensely aware of colonisation and injustice. She credits writers such as Leonie Pihama and Rangimārie Rose Pere with opening her eyes to structural inequality. After graduating, she worked as a journalist. She later turned to fiction, seeing storytelling as "a way to heal and give others what I'd been denied."
Her first novel, The Pōrangi Boy (2020), won the Young Adult Fiction Award at the 2021 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. The story resonated with Māori youth and brought Kino national attention. She later said that her work aimed to reflect the diversity of Māori experiences and perspectives.
In 2021, Kino studied te reo Māori full time at Te Wānanga Takiura o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori. She described this time as transformative but painful. "It was one of the most difficult challenges of my life," she said. "Every new kupu comes with tikanga and history behind it." This immersion deepened her understanding of colonisation and reshaped her view of identity.
During this time, Kino began writing All That We Know (2024), her first novel for adult readers. It was inspired by a real-life incident of racism at a high school and the courage of the students who spoke out. The writing process took three years and included a personal crisis of faith. "I was completely in te pō, in darkness," she recalls. The novel explores themes of anger, identity, sexuality and activism through the eyes of Māreikura, a young Māori woman.
Shilo Kino now resides in Tāmaki Makaurau and is pursuing a Master's degree in Indigenous Studies at Waipapa Taumata Rau (University of Auckland).
Photo credit: X @shilokino
Shilo Kino grew up in Waipu, a small town in the Northland region. She grew up in a Pākehā-majority environment where her whānau were one of the few Māori families. As a child, Shilo celebrated Scottish settler culture at local events but had little connection to her iwi or language. She said, "We only went back to our marae when someone died". This cultural disconnect shaped her later life.
In 2009, she started studying journalism at university. It was during this time that she became intensely aware of colonisation and injustice. She credits writers such as Leonie Pihama and Rangimārie Rose Pere with opening her eyes to structural inequality. After graduating, she worked as a journalist. She later turned to fiction, seeing storytelling as "a way to heal and give others what I'd been denied."
Her first novel, The Pōrangi Boy (2020), won the Young Adult Fiction Award at the 2021 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. The story resonated with Māori youth and brought Kino national attention. She later said that her work aimed to reflect the diversity of Māori experiences and perspectives.
In 2021, Kino studied te reo Māori full time at Te Wānanga Takiura o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori. She described this time as transformative but painful. "It was one of the most difficult challenges of my life," she said. "Every new kupu comes with tikanga and history behind it." This immersion deepened her understanding of colonisation and reshaped her view of identity.
During this time, Kino began writing All That We Know (2024), her first novel for adult readers. It was inspired by a real-life incident of racism at a high school and the courage of the students who spoke out. The writing process took three years and included a personal crisis of faith. "I was completely in te pō, in darkness," she recalls. The novel explores themes of anger, identity, sexuality and activism through the eyes of Māreikura, a young Māori woman.
Shilo Kino now resides in Tāmaki Makaurau and is pursuing a Master's degree in Indigenous Studies at Waipapa Taumata Rau (University of Auckland).
Photo credit: X @shilokino
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