Hinemoana Baker was born in 1968 in Christchurch, raised in Whakatane and Nelson, and has lived for more than 20 years in Wellington and Kāpiti. She descends from the Ngāi Tahu tribe in the South Island, and from Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa and Te Āti Awa in the North Island. Both of her parents also have non-Māori heritage, from England and Bavaria.

The author of two collections of poetry, Hinemoana also edits the online journal of Whitireia New Zealand’s Creative Writing Programme, and co-edited the anthology Kaupapa: New Zealand Poets, World Issues (The Development Resource Center, 2007). She has performed and read internationally and has released five CDs of music and poetry. In 2009 she was the Arts Queensland Poet in Residence; in 2010 she was one of thirty-eight writers in residence at the University of Iowa International Writing Programme; and in 2014 she is writer in residence at Victoria University in Wellington. waha | mouth is Hinemoana's third collection of poems.