Awesome interviewing this humble achiever, All Blacks #10 Richie Mo’unga, for a new book. Learning how Richie battled self doubt when he first made the All Blacks and how his parents inspire him during tough moments. Richie’s favourite Bible verse is Isaiah 40:31 “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
On Thursday I attended an event called the May Meet Up at the Mangere Arts Centre. It was a gathering of artists and people with dreams from Mangere-Otahuhu and was such an inspiring evening. We heard about these awesome projects that are happening in our community and country like: Anonymouz creating a soundtrack to help blind people…
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 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 island of Tuvalu, and today the books were launched as part of Tuvalu Language Week celebrations. Each book comes with an audio version as well…
It’s Niue’s 50th this week. What do you do if you can’t find a children’s book about Niue history and culture? Mele Nemaia, Carolyn Lagahetau and I found Niue children around the world and got them to write it! Today we launched the book Oceania Heritage: Niue at Niue Primary School with the writers and…
Today I was blessed to interview Dr Karlina Tongotea who is not only a doctor but a world champion power lifter! Lina is South Auckland- raised and comes from Māori (Ngāpuhi and Ngāi Tahu) and Tongan heritage. It was so inspiring to hear her stories and I can’t wait to share them in a new…
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 people you admire and are inspired by – they could be book characters, might be someone in your own whānau. Parade together as a whole…
