As a child Tim was adopted into the Waitai Tipene family, and raised in two cultures, NZ Māori and NZ European. His tribal affiliations are Ngāti Kuri, Ngāti Whātua, and Te Uri-o-Hau. First published in 1996, Tim is an award-winning author of children’s picture books and junior novels, including the Pipi and Pou series and The Book That Wouldn’t Read. In 2023 Pipi and Pou and the Raging Mountain was a finalist for the NZ Book Awards for Children and YA while Pipi and Pou and the Tentacles of the Deep was a Storylines Notable Junior Fiction. In 1994 Tim created Warrior Kids, a self control and social skills programme for children and teens, which he ran for 28 years in schools and communities, changing the lives of young people and their families. A trained counsellor with a graduate certificate in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Tim also holds multiple Black Belt Ranks and teaching titles in various Martial Arts.