Major international recognition announced for Māori children’s authors and illustrators

IBBY-UNESCO collection honours bilingual picture books written in te reo Māori and published by Oratia Books

Two picture books written in te reo Māori have been honoured by inclusion in the IBBY-UNESCO Collection of Remarkable Books for Young Readers in Indigenous and Endangered Languages. 

Rere Atu Taku Poi!/Let My Poi Fly! and Tōku Whānau Rerehua/My Beautiful Family, both published by Oratia Books, were selected from a worldwide field of titles in indigenous and endangered languages.

 

The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) joined with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to create this collection, which was revealed overnight at the IBBY World Congress in Ottawa, Canada. 

 

Rere Atu Taku Poi! , written by Tāmaki-Makaurau author and academic Tangaroa Paul and illustrated by Ōtautahi artist Rebecca Gibbs, tells of a boy named Rangi who dreams of joining the girls in the poi section of his school’s kapa haka performance. Co-published with Auckland Council Libraries, Rere Atu Taku Poi! has been made into a stage play by Taki Rua Productions, and received a 2024 Storylines Notable Book Award.

From Rere Atu Taku Poi!/Let My Poi Fly!

Tōku Whānau Rerehua, by Waikato-based teacher Rauhina Cooper with illustrations by award-winning Wellington artist Isobel Te Aho-White, relates how young Huia overcomes her shyness about having two mums when she has to present at the school’s family day. 

From Tōku Whānau Rerehua/My Beautiful Family

‘We are delighted by the honour for these books, which promote indigenous languages as well as values of diversity and inclusion,’ commented Carolyn Lagahetau, Oratia Books’ editorial director. 

 

‘Ngā mihi nunui ki a Tangaroa, Rebecca, Rauhina rātou ko Isobel.’

About the honoured authors and illustrators

Tangaroa Paul (Te Whare Tawhito o Muriwhenua), a poi exponent who identifies as gender fluid, is the associate dean academic and a senior lecturer in Te Ara Poutama at Auckland University of Technology, His children’s books draw on Tangaroa’s journey performing poi, celebrating diverse expressions of Māori identity.

Rebecca Gibbs (Rongowhakaata) has been a primary school teacher and gained a Bachelor of Design (VisCom) in 2015, since when she has worked in illustration and publishing. She lives in Diamond Harbour, near Ōtautahi/Christchurch.

Rauhina Cooper (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tahu) is a teacher and facilitator in kura supporting teachers in te reo Māori. She is passionate about the survival and use of te reo Māori. Rauhina lives in Ōhaupō. She was inspired to write Tōku Whānau Rerehua/My Beautiful Family, her first book, by her own ‘blended’ whānau. 

Isobel Te Aho-White (Ngāti Kahungunu, Kāi Tahu, UK, Denmark) has won numerous awards for her illustration of children’s books, and authored her own first book in 2025. In October Oratia will publish her stunning illustrations in the picture book Mauri by Merryn Jones. Isobel lives in Te Whanganui-a Tara/Wellington.

About Oratia Books

Based in Te Wao Nui a Tiriwa in West Auckland, Oratia Books is an independent publisher that produces around 15 new books a year, with a focus on children’s, Māori and general non-fiction titles. Oratia’s publishing has a multicultural, multilingual and inclusive outlook, with a growing number of children’s books bilingual in Māori and other Pacific languages.

About the IBBY-UNESCO Collection of Remarkable Books for Young Readers in Indigenous and Endangered Languages

This joint initiative of IBBY and UNESCO highlights books for children and young people published between 2018 and 2025 in an indigenous or endangered language, that present high standards of text and/or illustration, and that relate to the Global Action Plan of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. 

Rere Atu Taku Poi!  |  ISBN: 9781990042486  |  Tōku Whānau Rerehua  |  ISBN: 9781990042386

Both books are aperback, 270 x 210 mm, 32 pages, colour |  RRP $22.99

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

Bilingual picture book tells uplifting story of gender fluidity and the power of poi

Rere Atu Taku Poi!/Let My Poi Fly!

Tangaroa Paul

Illustrated by Rebecca Gibbs

Debut author pens inspiring picture book based on their own journey to performing the poi

Publishing this week as part Pride Month, Rere Atu Taku Poi!/Let My Poi Fly! is the story of a boy who learns that being different takes courage and makes us who we are.

Rangi loves doing haka but performing poi is his favourite — even though his classmates say this artform just for girls. When the lead poi performer falls sick before a school performance, Rangi has to take her place. 

 

How will the other students and audience react – ‘Surely a boy can’t lead the poi?’  As Rangi steps on stage, the familiar movements of poi take him from scared and unsure to standing as his authentic self.

‘As a child I knew I was different, but I struggled to find answers. Kapa haka and poi were the only ways in which I felt the connection between my culture and my self,’ Tangaroa says. 

 

‘This book, and Rangi’s journey of expressing who they are, is all about being bright, brave and
beautiful!’

Written in te reo Māori and English (te reo appears first on the pages), Tangaroa’s story is beautifully illustrated by Rebecca Gibbs. 

Creative New Zealand generously supported publication of the book, which was created in collaboration with Auckland Libraries Ngā Pataka Kōrero o Tamaki Makaurau.

A teacher resource for the book is available on the Oratia website. And scanning the QR code on the back cover takes you to YouTube videos with Tangaroa reading the book in Māori and English, and a poi performance.

To see an interview with Tangaroa, click on this link. 

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 have recently submitted a doctoral thesis in gender studies. Rere Atu Taku Poi! is Tangaroa’s first book.

Rebecca Gibbs (Rongowhakaata) has been a primary school teacher and gained a Bachelor of Design (VisCom) in 2015, since when she has worked in illustration and publishing. She lives in Christchurch.

Publication: 8 February 2024 | ISBN: 978-1-99-004248-5 | RRP $22.99

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