Rotuma Language Week 2023


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 the children knowing they’re achieving the dreams their families have for them. You can take a look inside the book and buy a copy here…
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 Oceania Literacy Trust which is a trust a few of us started to help improve literacy and wellbeing in our young people. “The students who…
This week I launched a new book Fanene Peter Maivia: Son of Samoa. It’s the first in a new series called Reading Legends. These are picture biographies of legendary Kiwi and Pasifika heroes.
“Hi David. Just thought I would let you know about a mum who came in this morning to tell me about her son last night. He normally kind of grunts when she asks him about his day but last night he followed her around the house to relive your talk pretty much word by word. …
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 did for people like Dr Ben Carson and Steven Adams. Whatever your talent, reading helps it grow bigger. There’s a lot of passionate librarians and…
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 birthday this year (independence from NZ that is) and we’re celebrating by making a book about the history and traditions of Niue for children. An…