Feana Tu'akoi is Palmerston North's first visiting artist for 2022

While in Palmerston North, Hamilton writer Feana Tu'akoi will offer workshops to Pacific children with the aim of producing a zine of their work. Photo / Supplied

Feana Tu'akoi is Palmerston North's first visiting artist for 2022.

Tu'akoi will dedicate her time here to writing nonfiction essays grounded in her life experience as part of a bicultural family. She will also be offering workshops to Pacific children with the aim of producing a zine of their work.

Tu'akoi's workshop project with Pacific children builds on a long career of successful publications in the field of children's writing, and arises from her original impulse to become a writer.

"I first began writing because I wanted our four children to read about people and experiences that made sense to them. Much of my writing since has included Tongan characters and bicultural families, like our own. My hope is that Pacific tamariki who read my work will recognise the value in their own stories and feel empowered to become our writers of the future."

Hamilton-based Tu'akoi has a strong background in educational writing. She has more than 220 titles to her name, including stories, poems, picture books, school readers, plays and radio stories.

Tu'akoi writes regularly for the NZ School Journals, the Ready to Read series, the NSW School Magazine and Wendy Pye's Sunshine series, and has done so for more than 20 years.

The visiting artist programme is a collaboration between Massey University's School of Humanities, Media Studies and Creative Communication, Palmerston North City Council and Square Edge Community Arts.

Selection committee member and Square Edge Community Arts artistic director Dr Karen Secombe aligns Tu'akoi's aspirations with Square Edge's central mission.

"Working from a community centred tuākana-tēina approach to create a zine publication with a group of Pasifika children, and Feana's deep sense that everyone brings value to the table, connects in strongly with the values of Square Edge."

Fellow selection committee member, associate professor Darryn Joseph, expressed a similar excitement about hosting Tu'akoi.

"Feana stood out as a writer who would benefit from this residency in this particular moment of her writing career but more importantly would be a tremendous presence in the community. Her referee, a previous recipient of the residency, spoke of Feana as 'wonderfully enthusiastic, an excellent contributor to the community, has worked a lot in schools, interested, open and responsive and very energetic'."