Waimārama Writers

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.

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 beloved home South Auckland.

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…

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 that goes with this particular picture is that the Black Ferns Sevens team see themselves as a waka, that leaves mana in its wake. “The…

Today ‘Alisi Tatafu and I launched our children’s book Rise of the To’a (the MMT story) at Mangere College as part of Tongan Language Week celebrations. The book even had its own cake! Why Mangere College? ‘Alisi is a current teacher and Dean at MC, and MC is the school I went to. Seek the…

I just found out that Black Magic has been shortlisted in the 2025 NZ Children’s Book Awards. That’s cool man! Not because I’m after awards but because it means more children will read this story which is an important story for Kiwi kids to know. The book is illustrated by Munro Te Whata and we’re…