Thank you, Ryder

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…

I’ve been working with children at Matua Ngaru School in Kumeū to make a book about the river which sometimes floods during storms. Many people in this community are anxious when it rains heavily because of the damage the floods cause. They asked if we could make a book to ease some of the worry…

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 Eritrea but then he became a refugee in Sudan before being relocated to Aotearoa. It’s an inspirational story and I can’t wait to share it…

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 been an amazing blessing to be part of this work and to learn a little about Tongan culture. A big malo ‘aupito to ‘Alisi Tatafu…

Four days a week she’s a doctor. The other three days she’s a world champion powerlifter! Find out how this Māori-Tongan wahine toa from South Auckland did it, in this inspirational new biography from Reading Warrior. Order here: https://readingwarrior.com/product/dr-karlina-tongotea-world-champion-powerlifter/

Another cool project I got to do this year was work with children of Weymouth Primary to share stories of place names in the Manurewa area which tell the stories of Te Ākitai Waiohua iwi. This mahi is important because the place names help keep alive the stories of people, events and the environment which…