St Mary MacKillop School

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…

I had an incredible week in Raro this week. The Cook Islands Ministry of Education invited me to come and share in their literacy week celebrations. I visited lots of schools on Raro, talking to young people, and being inspired by them. This photo comes form a writing workshop I did with children at Nukutere…

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 Dawson Primary where I’m working with these children to write about inspirational Ōtarians. An architect, a Kiwi league player, a business mentor, an actor, an…

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 each letter illustrated by a different Kiwi children’s book illustrator and put them together in this new work, Standing In My Own Shoes. There’s letters…

I’m really proud of this book because it celebrates some of the greatest athletes from the islands of Oceania! You’ll be inspired by Valerie Adams, the unstoppable Tongan-Kiwi shot putter. You’ll cheer for Jerry Tuwai, the two-time Olympic gold medallist from Fiji. You’ll be amazed by Lisa Carrington, the first Māori woman to win an…

Today I got to visit students in the middle school at Sir Edmund Hilary Collegiate in Ōtara. I find these young people really inspiring because they have big dreams and they’re in the perfect place to build on the things their families have already been instilling in them. Our country has an amazing future because…