Makiuti Tongia (born 1953) is a Cook Islands poet, academic, diplomat, and public servant.
[1] Tongia was born in Rarotonga[1] and educated at Tereora College and the University of the South Pacific, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, Pacific History and Creative Writing.
He won a Fulbright scholarship and studied at Ohio State University and Western Kentucky University, graduating in 1985 with a Master of Arts in Ethnology and Living Museums.
[5] In 2013 he was appointed as a member of the advisory board to the Seabed Minerals Authority.
[6] Tongia began writing poetry at Tereora College, and continued his work at university, where he was published in Unispac.