'New Zealand’s greatest tribal history' returns to print

Tuhoe, volume 1

Tuhoe

The Children of the Mist

Elsdon Best

Preface to the fifth edition by Rāpata Wiri

The work that has been called 'New Zealand’s greatest tribal history' returns to print a century after its first publication, in quality hardback volumes

 

‘As a tribal historian and a Tūhoe descendant, I believe we are  fortunate that this book was published; otherwise our tribal histories and our whakapapa may have been lost forever.’

Rāpata Wiri, from the preface

Tuhoe, volume 2

Oratia Books is honoured to bring back into print what has been described as ‘New Zealand’s greatest tribal history’, 100 years on from its first publication.

Tuhoe: The Children of the Mist is a monumental publication in its own right, with a first volume of over 1200 pages and a second that presents detailed whakapapa (genealogical charts) and maps.

During the early twentieth century ethnologist Elsdon Best lived for many years in the Urewera country. He carefully documented the culture, beliefs, customs and whakapapa of the Ngāi Tūhoe people – whom he called ‘the children of the mist’.

This celebrated two-volume work comes back into print with the guidance of scholar Dr Rāpata Wiri (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Ruapani), whose doctoral thesis provided a re-evaluation of Best’s work.

Volume 1 presents Best’s history of the Urewera, from the first settlement from Polynesia through to the arrival of Europeans and resultant conflict. In great detail he presents the

traditions, myths, religious beliefs and practices of the Urewera peoples.

The large-format volume 2 contains the many whakapapa relating to Ngāi Tūhoe and other iwi descended from the Mātaatua waka. 

A slipcased set is available for book lovers and collectors.

Tuhoe: The Children of the Mist is on sale in bookstores nationwide and in Australia.

The Author

Elsdon Best lived from 1895 to 1910 among the Ngāi Tūhoe people in the then-remote Te Urewera, where European presence was minimal. He filled notebooks with information that took shape in the present book. Eventually he became an officer of the Dominion Museum, where he compiled many publications. He was a foundation member of the Polynesian Society, and in 1914 was awarded the Hector medal for research in ethnology. Elsdon Best passed away in 1931.

Publication: 12 November 2025

Vol. 1, ISBN: 978-1-99-004286-7  |  RRP $100  |  Hardback, 212 x 130 mm portrait, 1232 pages, b&w

Vol. 2, ISBN: 978-1-99-004287-4  |  RRP $65  |  Hardback, 213 x 278 mm portrait, 104 pp, b&w

Slipcased set, ISBN: 978-1-99-004291-1  |  RRP $175

From the forests of Finland, a thank you to nature for young readers in Oceania

Thank you, Forest

Johanna Venho

Illustrated by Sanna Pelliccioni

Translated by Jennifer Pulju Porter

Travelling all the way from the forests of Finland to the ngāhere of New Zealand, Thank you, Forest is a unique book for children — a story in the form of a child's notebook. 

Finnish author and poet Johanna Venho conjures up the world of Spruce, a young girl whose sanctuary is the forest near her house.

She writes and collects from the nature around her to fill her notebook with items that enrich her life.

Then her parents and brother Zach start to look glum and talk about the forest being 'zoned'. 

‘What does “zoned” mean?’ I ask.

‘It means they’re going to build apartment blocks here,’ Zach says.

Spruce returns to the forest and ties notes to the trees as a type of protest. The notes are seen by a mysterious boy with green eyes and twigs in his hair, who introduces himself as Gale. 

Gale takes Spruce to see an underground lake deep in  forest. Could this be secret they need to save the trees from destruction? 

Thank you, Forest conjures up a sense of belonging in nature that is perfectly reflected in Sanna Pelliccioni’s notebook-style illustrations.

Noted Finnish-American translator Jennifer Pulju Porter crafted the English text. 

A grant from the Finnish Literature Exchange supported this book to be published in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific.

The authors

Johanna Venho is a leading author and poet based in Finland who has written for both adults and children. Among the many awards for her books, she received the prestigious Arvid Lydecken Prize for Children’s Literature in 2003. 

Sanna Pelliccioni is an award-winning illustrator and children’s author whose work has been widely translated. She featured in the IBBY honour list 2022. Sanna lives in Helsinki, Finland.

Jen Pulju Porter is a Finnish-American translator who has worked across a range of genres in her career. She currently lives in Colorado, USA.

Publication: 7 November 2025  |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004294-2 |  RRP $25.99

Hardback, 240 x 175 mm portrait, 32 pages, colour

Revealing the history, origin and meaning of New Zealand place names

 

New Zealand Place Names

Common, Contested and Curious Names from Aotearoa to Zalatown

Peter Dowling & A.W. Reed

Whether you call it New Zealand or Aotearoa, this country carries a unique history — one of very few land masses where we know mostly who named places and what those names mean.

Our recent human settlement makes for a wealth of recorded information, but also much change in our names as competing claims play out today — just ask residents of Russell or Waimarino. 

New Zealand Place Names represents the most up-to-date and authoritative guide to this field, providing fascinating definitions for over 850 names with history, origin, meanings, curiosities and more. 

Working with the assistance of the New Zealand Geographic Board, editor and publisher Peter Dowling has provided new definitions to build upon the lifetime’s research of the late A.W. Reed. A grant from Copyright Licensing New Zealand assisted the project.

This general work includes a map, glossaries, and new appendices on prolific namers, controversies and how to name a place. 

New Zealand Place Names complements A.W. Reed's classic Māori Place Names, also published by Oratia Books.

The Authors

Peter Dowling has edited and extended various of A.W. Reed’s classic works including Māori Place Names (2017) and Place Names of New Zealand (2010). Brought up in Christchurch and resident in Auckland, Peter is the founder and publisher of Oratia Books.

A.W. Reed (1908–1979) was one of New Zealand’s most influential writers and publishers. He helped build A.H. & A.W. Reed into the country’s leading publisher and authored more than 200 books, including seminal books on place names, dictionaries and collections of traditional stories and legends.

Publication Date: 5 November 2025 |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004288-1 |  RRP $39.99

Paperback, 234 x 153 mm portrait, 204 pages b&w