What’s been happening

Beautiful meeting today with the legendary Niue educator, Mele Nemaia, and Oratia Publishing editor Carolyn Lagahetau – one of the first Pasifika book publishers in the world. It’s Niue’s 50th…

Thank you to staff, students and families of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu students for a cool time with you doing writing workshops in Kirikiriroa Hamilton and Tauranga Moana.

I’ve been doing a project with these Writing Warriors from Dawson Primary School in Ōtara. We’re making a pukapuka together in which they star as superheroes. These tamariki are creative,…

A pic from our photoshoot at Wiri Central School today. These awesome young people have written a pukapuka about their pride in being Māori. We’re launching their pukapuka during Matariki…

Tamatea Intermediate students are Writing Warriors! Look how focused they are.

22 newly published authors showing off their books at Waimārama School, Hawke’s Bay.

They’re known for their rugby but young men at Hastings Boys’ High School are readers too. It was inspiring sharing with them today as part of a Read NZ Writers…

https://gazette.education.govt.nz/articles/igniting-a-passion-for-writing-through-creative-art/

Today we launched a new book called Hood Heroes, written and illustrated by children at Flat Bush School, Ōtara. It’s such a beautiful feeling when you see the pride of…

This is my favourite part of writing projects with kids: celebrating with the children and their families. This evening we launched The Streets: a celebration of Mt Wellington written by…

“Thank you to former MC student & Author Extraordinare David Riley for the gift of boxes of new books to families in South Auckland so they can start, or add…

I’m making a new book about Black Ferns Sevens try-scoring machine Michaela Blyde. It’s called Strike Hard! The illustrator is Sarah Trolle and Sarah is a teacher too! The korero…

Havelock North Intermediate. My question to the kids: what did you learn from my talk today? Answers: “We can publish books at our age.” “If my work gets rejected –…

St Matthew’s School, Hastings. So cool to share with kids about inspirational people like Israel Adesanya inside an inspirational venue like a church!

Some Kiwi children’s writers – Abel Junior Tutagalevao, Bill Nagelkerke, Brianne Te Paa, and me – on our way to encourage and be inspired by kids at Poukawa School, Hawke’s…

Awesome time at Kedgley Intermediate School today celebrating A Piece of Myself – a book written by these talented young people. The kaupapa of our pukapuka is to praise our…

Today we had a cool celebration of 4 bilingual children’s books I worked on with young people of Māori, Samoan, Chinese and Hindi heritage. The kaupapa of the books is…

Can’t wait to share this new pukapuka with you e te whānau. A celebration of the streets of Mt Wellington written and narrated by talented young writers from Bailey Road…

Much alofa to all those parents who make the tough choice to move their families to places so different to where they’ve come from, just so their children can have…

This is Taitama on the right. He’s a student at Nayland Primary School and he’s an author. He told me he’s inspired by my journey, to publish his art and…

Wow man! Never would I have thought that a book I wrote would be nominated for a NZ Children’s Books award. But it happened with Freestyle: the Israel Adesanya Story…

Pretty amazed that Freestyle: the Israel Adesanya Story has made the shortlist of the 2023 NZ Children’s Book Awards in the non-fiction category. Never did I think I could reach…

I’m working with children from Manurewa West School on a bilingual (Māori and English) book about Matariki. As part of the project we went out to Kurawaka Animation Studio in…

“I cant believe that I’m now an author.” “My favourite part was writing my own thoughts about the topic.” “I’m so excited that my piece of writing can go worldwide.”…

When positive role models inspire (breathe life into) the next generation it’s always powerful. Janine Williams and her husband Charles are amazing – you can see their murals and sculpture…

I’ve seen a few Book Week parades, where children dress as book characters, but I haven’t seen any do it the way Flat Bush Primary School does it. Dress as…

I’ve been working with children from the Hindi College in West Auckland. We’re making a book that teaches children what to do in a flood. It’s been awesome learning Indian…

Today we celebrated the launch of Stand Your Ground, a book I did with young people at Sancta Maria College. This was the first book I made sponsored by the…

I’m working on a new children’s book about Ibrahim Omer who is the first person with African heritage to be a member of the NZ parliament. Ibrahim grew up in…

These are some of the children I’ve been working with to write a Chinese story teaching children what to do in a thunderstorm. They are members of the New Zealand…

Today we celebrated Tuvalu Independence Day with the launch of 8 new bilingual Tuvaluan children’s books. The books represent each island in Tuvalu and are written by 8 Tuvaluan young…

Today we launched my new children’s book Freestyle: the Israel Adesanya Story at City Kickboxing, Izzy’s home gym. This photo is with Izzy and Ant Sang the awesome illustrator. You…

I did a talk at Ashburton Intermediate today – told the children a story about how a book about rocks changed someone’s life. After the talk these four boys came…

Spent the morning at Flat Bush School with inspirational alumni Willie Maea, Samson Vaotuua, Greg Va’afusuaga, Jay Paniani and Dr Julienne Faletau as they returned to visit their old school…

“When I have enough money saved and have created a name for myself, I would love to start my travels. First I would like to go to Paris and visit…

I’ve spent the last two days in Napier and Hastings encouraging young people to believe in themselves and find out who they are  through reading. Finished at Hastings Boys’ High…

On Thursday I was blessed to participate in a rangatahi programme for the uri of Te Ahiwaru – Hapuu of Ihumaatao called Te Ara a Hape. This Kaupapa was designed…

Awesome time sharing stories about the power of reading with children at Te Totara Primary School. Question of the day: “What’s the downside of being a writer?” Answer: Hustling to…

I did a zoom sharing talk as part of the Reading Oceania conference recently. Whenever I’m blessed to do presentations I’m always proud to represent my home town Māngere, and…

Today I received an awesome message from David Ackery, librarian at Waitakere College. “I finally got around to getting a copy of The Reading Tribe. What a great book! So…

Today we’re back to work making Tuvalu children’s books with Sagaa Malua, Alamai Sioni and the master Chad Robertson. I love this work because we know it makes a massive…

When an older generation of Ōtara legends come around to inspire a younger generation. That’s what you call tuakana-teina in action. Speaking words of life into young spirits today at…

Today Kedgley Intermediate School launched the book we made together celebrating their incredible alumni. A supercity mayor, Black Ferns captain, successful businesswomen, entrepreneurs, writers, MMT captain, world class singers and…

This term I’m working with some inspiring children and their whānau at St Francis Catholic School in Auckland. We’re making a book about Matariki – how it inspires them in…

I always love sharing stories with young people about how reading can literally save and change your life. Today I was at Wesley College – blessed and inspired by these…

I’ve just released 4 new books in the Pasifika Superheroes bilingual series: 2 Samoan and 2 Tongan. These books come with narration as well so the children can listen to…

I’m working on a children’s book about UFC champion Israel Adesanya. The illustrator is the amazing Ant Sang and you can see more of Ant’s work here: http://www.antsang.co.nz/. This is…

I’m working with the team at Mahi for Ukraine to make a book of encouraging messages and pictures by Kiwi young people for the Ukrainian young people who will soon…

The Reading Tribe has won a Storylines Notable Books Award. Massive thank you to designers Misterwolf for generously doing the design for free because they believe in encouraging young people…

Would you like some free books with that bread and milk? During the COVID lockdown schools and libraries were closed and many of our young people lost access to books…

This year I was blessed to do a project with young people from Pacific Advance Secondary School in Auckland. I helped them to share stories of the people, cultures and…

I’ve been working with an awesome group of Niue young people and their families at Favona Primary School in Māngere. This week we launched a collection of their writing in…

In term 3 I worked with children and families from the wonderful Auckland Tuvalu Community Trust to make a bilingual book celebrating Tuvalu people, history and culture. We launched the…

Our Normal is a series of intimate and honest conversations with some of New Zealand’s most talented Paralympians. The athletes tell us about the books, food, music, people, places and taonga…

To celebrate Olympics year I asked Kiwi Olympians and Paralympians to write letters to young people sharing what they learned about “success” from their experiences in Tokyo. Then I got…

The Reading Tribe is a new book I’ve made where I ask some of New Zealand’s most successful people to share the books that have travelled with them through life…

X-factor Kiwi kids at St Francis School in Pt Chev. These Tongan children are so proud their brother is on the front cover photo of Rise of the To’a. By…

Ngā Tamaiti Rangatira is a collection of writing by young people from the Tipu Whare program at Panama Road School. I helped these rangatahi share their thoughts about life, their dreams and…

‘I will always remember the last words my parents said to me before I came here: “Don’t forget who you are.” I’m proud of who I am. I’m proud to…

What a blessing to work with these beautiful Tongan children making a book about how proud they are to be Tongan. The book is bilingual (Tongan and English). The stories…

Kinaua Ewels is a Kiribati-Kiwi primary school teacher who shared an amazing story about her grandfather, Konererio, with me. He was a ‘Coastwatcher’ during World War II and saved many…

I’ve received a number of emails from librarians over the years asking if I could make some books for girls. I’m so glad I got to make some books featuring…

“So you want our blessing to publish stories for children? First you have to play me in table tennis. Then you have to listen to me make fun of you…

Today we had another launch for the book, Rise of the To’a, the MMT story. This launch was held for the Tongan community at Lesieli Tonga church in Mangere. It’s…

I spent this week visiting schools in Wellington to encourage young people to read. My main message is that books are so powerful they can change your life, as they…

This year Chad Sta-Krucial Robertson and I have been working on an awesome project with the Tuvalu Auckland Community Trust. We made 8 bilingual Tuvaluan children’s books, one representing each…

Today ‘Alisi Tatafu and I launched our children’s book Rise of the To’a (the MMT story) online in Tonga. We would have been there if it wasn’t for COVID but…

Massive arohas and shout out to Indira Stewart and the team at Radio NZ for hosting our team of Flat Bush student writers and recording them reading their stories. An…