Keep Calm — We Are Coming

 

Keep Calm — We Are Coming
The NZSAS in action in Afghanistan, 2009–2021

Ron Crosby

A gripping account of New Zealand’s military elite in action in Afghanistan, told in their own words

This special book takes the reader on a rare tour behind the lines of the New Zealand Special Air Service during its time in Afghanistan, based on extensive interviews and research by author Ron Crosby.

Keep Calm —We Are Coming briefly backgrounds the NZSAS role with Coalition forces supporting the Afghan government, before focusing on four engagements where many lives were at risk.

While primarily training Afghan forces in Kabul, the Kiwis were called upon to respond to a series of ‘spectacular attacks’ by heavily-armed Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests and determined to inflict major casualties on civilians.

In the words of those who were there, Crosby tells how the NZSAS resolved three devastating attacks by terrorists in Kabul between 2009 and 2012 — at the Indian Guesthouse, Intercontinental Hotel and British Council.

The book then relates how the NZSAS returned to help evacuate New Zealanders from the chaos of Kabul Airport in 2021 as the Taliban took over.

This fast-paced book —illustrated with 32 pages of colour photos from the attacks and the airport – reveals how a courageous group of Kiwis saved hundreds of lives in extremely 

dangerous conditions.

Author Ron Crosby at the book's launch in Auckland

Keep Calm — We Are Coming is available in good booksellers nationwide, in time for Anzac Day 2026 commemorations.

The author

Ron Crosby is a well-known author of New Zealand history, including The Musket Wars, The Forgotten Wars, Te Kooti’s Last Foray and NZSAS: The First Fifty Years. He enjoyed a long career as a barrister, and was a member of the Waitangi Tribunal for 13 years. Resident in Blenheim, Ron has intermittently spent many years writing the current book; see www.roncrosby.co.nz.

Publication: 2 April 2026  |  ISBN: 9781990042997  |  RRP $45.00

Paperback with flaps, 240 x 160 mm portrait, 260 pages, 

b&w with 4 x 8-page colour sections

Oratia Books on the move to Upstart Distribution and Archetype Book Agents

From this Wednesday 1 April 2026, Upstart Distribution becomes the New Zealand distributor for Oratia Books titles, and sales representation moves to Archetype Book Agents. 

Based in Penrose, Auckland, Upstart Distribution is a highly regarded distributor of books for New Zealand publishers, and is led by legendary publishers Kevin Chapman and Pat Dunmore.

Archetype Book Agents, managed by industry stalwarts Neil Brown and Craig Gamble, has a network of respected sales agents across New Zealand. It represents many of the country’s leading publishers including Allen & Unwin and the university presses of Auckland, Massey, Te Herenga Waka and Otago. 

 

‘We look forward greatly to working with the talented Upstart and Archetype teams to take Oratia Books to readers throughout Aotearoa,’ commented Oratia Books’ publisher Peter Dowling. 

 

‘Our sincere appreciation to departing commissioned reps Gary Shannon, Dennis Morgan and Carol Kavanagh for their outstanding service to us over the years. All the best with your next chapters.

 

‘We also owe a debt of gratitude to our distributors since 2009, Bookreps NZ (previously Publishers Distribution Ltd) for their years of sterling work on our behalf.’ 

 

All orders for Oratia Books from April onwards should be directed to Upstart Distribution customer services: orders@upstartdist.nz, 09 280 3202. 

 

Look out for the Oratia Books Catalogue 2026, coming in April, for our growing list of new and backlist books. 

 

For any enquiries, please contact Peter (peter@oratia.co.nz) or Belinda Cooke, sales and marketing consultant (belinda@oratia.co.nz).

Second in Tangaroa Paul's picture-book series takes flight to Polynesia

Rere Atu ki Poronihia
Flight to Polynesia

Tangaroa Paul 
Illustrated by Luca Tu'avao Walton

We're delighted to share this new picture book that explores Pacific identity through its young hero’s trip to festival in Hawai’i

Tangaroa Paul’s first book Rere Atu Taku Poi! / Let My Poi Fly! has been a big hit, with a reprint, audiobook version and a stage adaptation springing from the picture book that published in early 2023.

In fact, Taki Rua Production's adaptation was named Production of the Year in the 2025 Performing Arts and Young People Awards. 

Now Tangaroa is back with a sequel in which the book's protagonist Rangi and his kapa haka group fly from Aotearoa to Hawai’i for a cultural festival.

While sharing the group’s culture with others from around the Pacific, Rangi makes friends with young people like him from Hawai’i, Sāmoa and Tonga, who combine male and female energy.

And so on with the show! Performances take the stage while in the background, Rangi ponders how Māori define gender and identity.

Written in Māori and English, with vivid illustrations by Tongan-Kiwi artist Luca Tu’avao Walton, Rere Atu ki Poronihia is an uplifting story that shares the cultures of Polynesia to young readers.

It is jointly published by Auckland Council Libraries and Oratia Books, and hits the bookshelves ahead of the Pasifika Festival 2026 in Tāmaki Makaurau, with a free Teacher Resource available online.

The book's ending opens the path to the third book in the series — as we see Rangi on the plane home, reflecting on the friends he made in Hawai'i and what he has learned about gender identities in the Pacific. 

 

I te kōingo ia mēnā rānei he kupu Māori mōna?  

He wondered if there was kupu Māori for him, too?

The authors

Tangaroa Paul (Te Whare Tawhito o Muriwhenua), a poi expert who identifies as gender-fluid, is a lecturer in te reo Māori at the Auckland University of Technology, where they completed a doctorate in gender studies in 2023. Their books drawn on Tangaroa’s own experience as the first biological male to compete in the poi section of Te Matatini.

Luca Tu’avao Walton is an artist and animator who spent his early life in Tonga and now lives in Auckland. His art explores themes of femininity and representation in the Pacific context.

Publication: 10 March 2026  |  ISBN: 9781990042973  |  RRP $22.99

Paperback, 270 x 210 mm portrait, 32 pages, colour

Fascinating new NZ Series book details the history of animals in Aotearoa

The NZ Series 

Wild Life

An Animal History of Aotearoa

Philippa Werry

Entertaining account of New Zealand as lived by the animals broadens the wing span of The NZ Series 

Humans reached New Zealand about 1000 years ago, at which point animals had been here for several hundred million years. 

How was life before and after Māori and European arrival? What is unique about our species, how have they adapted over time and what is their future in a time of climate change? 

 

Award-winning author Philippa Werry takes the story back to Gondwanaland, looking at dinosaur life, the amazing tuatara, species evolutions over time and some of those that didn’t manage to survive, like the Haast’s eagle and huia. 

Coming to the modern era, the book surveys all aspects of animal life — from introduced pests, livestock and domestic pets to conservation efforts, zoos and animal celebrities like Shrek the sheep and Phar Lap.

This colourful ninth book in The NZ Series follows The Treaty of Waitangi, winner of the Margaret Mahy Supreme Book of the Year prize at the 2025 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

 

A free Teacher Resource for the book is available here.

The author

Philippa Werry is a writer of non-fiction and fiction for young readers. She has won numerous awards, including the Young Adult Fiction Award at the 2023 NZYCA Awards for her novel Iris and Me, and is well known for books on New Zealand society, including The NZ Series title New Zealand Migration (2023). She lives in Wellington (www.philippawerry.co.nz).

Publication: 10 February 2026  |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004298-0  |  RRP $29.99

Paperback, 240 x 160 mm portrait, 100 pages, colour

 

Chennai brings a world of publishing to a dynamic India

From 16–18 January I had the privilege of attending the fourth Chennai International Book Fair (CIBF) as one of the international publishing fellows invited from over 100 countries. 

Capital of the prosperous southern state of Tamil Nadu, Chennai represents India's fourth-largest urban agglomeration with a population around 9 million. The city is a hub for a host of manufacturing and creative industries, with a proud cultural tradition.

The Tamil Nadu state government is throwing its weight behind books and culture at a time when many governments in other places are turning away from support for the arts, reading and free debate. 

Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi (front left) gave time to meet with Peter along with other publishers in the CIBF Rights Hub

That enlightened approach – summarised in this year's theme 'A Conversation Between Civilisations' – has led to the CIBF fast becoming a vibrant hub for rights and cultural exchange in just four years. 

At this year's instalment I was able to meet with publishers, agents, writers, translators and consultants from across Tamil Nadu, other parts of India, and around the world.

At the opening ceremony on 16 January with the outstanding Colombian publisher John Naranjo, and meeting with colleagues Fatou Sy from Senegal and Nguyen Huu Quynh Huong from Vietnam 

Our international rights manager, Maria Leonardi, was also at the fair as she took a working break from current travels in India. 

Maria Leonardi, interviewed by CIBF for her impressions of the fair

Together we had several dozen formal meetings over three days, interspersed by the many networking opportunities that a fellowship affords. 

Of special import was advancing our edition of the classic Tamil work The Thirukkural, in a Māori translation by University of Waikato lecturer Ngairo Eruera edited by New Zealand-based editor and community organiser Peniel Prabhakaran.

With Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma, the outstanding American translator of The Thirukkural

That included showing an uncorrected proof of the book to Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and , and valuable discussion with American translator and poet Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma, whose superb English translation forms the bridge between Tamil and Māori in our edition. 

Most valuable also the reconnection with Dr Sankara Saravanan and Peer Mohamed Azees of the Tamil Nadu Texbook and Educational Services Corporation, which has licensed the publication of this modern translation of the sixth-century work by Thiruvalluvar. 

Te Tirukurare / The Thirukkural will publish under Oratia's Five Oceans imprint mid-2026 in close collaboration with Chennai-based Kelir Books and the Tamil community of Aotearoa. 

It was most encouraging to see the response to work by Oratia authors from science and history writer Matthew Wright to Kiwi-Indian children's author Renisa Maki. 

There is impressive growth in book output from Tamil Nadu, and it was good to meet publishers from Tamil Nadu and beyond to see what they're proposing.

A pleasure to catch up with Ival Bharathi of Nam Publications, Chennai, together with her family

Sharing good books with Chennai-based literary agent Vishali Janarthanan and colleagues

And sharing books about social inclusion with Maharasthra publisher Prashant Tambe

It was also opportune to share the Five Oceans edition of The Ant Rebellion with the Turkish literature agency TEDA, and Thank you, Forest with Benas Berantas of Book Smugglers Agency, Lithuania, who negotiated our rights acquisition. 

Memorable performances, panels and cultural presentations punctuated meetings at the Rights Hub, along with the superb cuisine on offer.

Now begins the work of sharing information and reading copies as we work to sell rights and reach new readers in India and beyond. 

Maria and I extend our sincere thanks to the fair organisers and all those in Chennai for their hospitality, generosity and commitment to bringing Tamil to the world and the world to Tamil.

The Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M.K. Stalin at the closing ceremony with Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and other dignitaries

With further commitments to literary funding announced by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin at the fair's closing ceremony, the future looks bright for the CIBF and the reading culture of southern India.

Peter Dowling, Publisher