Rate My Professor Feana Tu'akoi

Feana Tu'akoi is a Kirikiriroa-based children's author renowned for her extensive contributions to educational writing. With approximately 250 published titles—including stories, poems, picture books, chapter books, school readers, plays, articles, activities, and radio stories—she has significantly enriched children's literature, particularly with narratives featuring Tongan characters, bicultural families, and Pacific perspectives. Motivated by the scarcity of such representation when her four children were preschoolers, she began publishing in 1997 to create relatable stories drawing from Tongan legends, ideas, and everyday life. Her work has been translated into several languages, including Samoan and Spanish, and she has contributed for over two decades to key educational resources like New Zealand School Journals, Ready to Read series, New South Wales School Magazine, and Wendy Pye’s Sunshine series. Eight of her ten trade books have received awards, underscoring her impact in empowering Pacific children to value their own stories and aspire to writing.

Born in Canterbury and raised across the North and South Islands, Tu'akoi grew up in Temuka with family holidays in Ōtepoti Dunedin, making her 2024 University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence a poignant homecoming. During this fellowship, she is developing her first mystery adventure novel series, set in a fāmili like her own and weaving in impactful themes. She previously served as 2022 Massey University Writer in Residence and Visiting Artist, facilitating initiatives such as Le'o 'o e Pasifiki: Voices of the Pacific. Key publications include the What Is a…? science series (Scholastic, 2007), Freaky Fish (Puffin, 2008), The Water Fight (Mallinson Rendel, 2008), Jonah’s First Day (Scholastic, 2010), Lest We Forget/Kei Wareware Tātou (Scholastic, 2011), Hayes Paddock Hipsters (poetry, Turbine/Kapohau, 2021), Ko Au Te Whenua, Ko Te Whenua, Ko Au (essay, Headland, 2021), and Lopini the Legend (Scholastic NZ, 2023). Her accolades feature the 2022 Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award for Lopini the Legend, multiple Storylines Notable Book Awards (2008, 2009, 2012), LIANZA Elsie Locke Award finalist (2008), NZ Post Children’s Book Awards finalist (2008), and third place in the 2021 Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne Essay Prize. She judged the 2023 NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and is Convenor for 2025.