Afakasi Woman

Afakasi Woman
Author: Lani Wendt Young
Publisher:
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2019-11
Genre:
ISBN: 9780995106598

A collection of 24 short stories; the joys and tribulations of being a woman in Samoa and the struggles brought to an island nation by climate change.

Telesa

Telesa
Author: Lani Wendt Young
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Covenants
ISBN: 9781466253711

When Leila moves to Samoa, all she wants is a family, a place to belong. Instead she discovers the local ancient myths of the telesa spirit women are more than just scary stories. The more she finds out about her heritage, the more sinister her new home turns out to be. Embraced by a Covenant Sisterhood of earth's elemental guardians - what will Leila choose? Her fiery birthright as a telesa? Or will she choose the boy who offers her his heart? Daniel - stamped with the distinctive tattoo markings of a noble Pacific warrior and willing to risk everything for the chance to be with her. Can their love stand against the Covenant Keeper? A thriller-romance with a difference. If you enjoyed Twilight, then you will be enthralled by Telesa as it blends the richness of Pacific mythology into a contemporary young adult love story that will stay with you long after you have turned the final page.

Bloody Woman

Bloody Woman
Author: Lana Lopesi
Publisher: Bridget Williams Books
Total Pages: 133
Release: 2021-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1988587964

Bloody Woman is bloody good writing. It moves between academic, journalistic and personal essay. I love that Lana moves back and forward across these genres: weaving, weaving – spinning the web, weaving the sparkling threads under our hands, back and forward across a number of spaces, pulling and holding the tensions, holding up the baskets of knowledge. Tusiata Avia This wayfinding set of essays, by acclaimed writer and critic Lana Lopesi, explores the overlap of being a woman and Sāmoan. Writing on ancestral ideas of womanhood appears alongside contemporary reflections on women's experiences and the Pacific. These essays lead into the messy and the sticky, the whispered conversations and the unspoken. As Lopesi writes, 'Bloody Woman has been scary to write... In putting words to my years of thinking, following the blood and revealing the evidence board in my mind, I am breaking a silence to try to understand something. It feels terrifying, but right.' These acts of self-revelation ultimately seek to open up new spaces, to acknowledge the narratives not yet written, and the voices to come.

Afakasi Speaks

Afakasi Speaks
Author: Grace Teuila Evelyn Taylor
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Poets, Samoan
ISBN: 9781492876069

This first collection of poetry by award-winning Spoken Word artist, Grace Teuila Evelyn Taylor, marks her debut as a poet who can also move audiences with the written word. Afakasi Speaks explores the complexities of Afakasi identity, of those that, as Taylor puts it, "taste the bitter sweetness of the space between brown and white," identifying as Samoan and English. These brave poems give voice to the power of family and language even as they reveal painful colonial legacies.

Fire's Caress: A Telesā World Novel

Fire's Caress: A Telesā World Novel
Author: Lani Wendt Young
Publisher:
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2020-12-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780473550271

She's the brilliant sculptor taking the art world by storm, a daughter of Samoa returning home. He's the fiery remnant of her past, who appears on what should be a night of triumph, weighted with dark secrets that could destroy them both. Can Teuila and Keahi find their way, even as a deadly threat emerges? Because there's a new power on island, malevolent and hungry. His name is Marc Gold. His billion dollar vision of a virus-free Sanctuary in Samoa for the world's rich and privileged, threatens to wipe out an ancient settlement of the Aitu and awakens their retribution. There is a battle coming and it is one that could destroy them all. This is a Telesā World novel which continues the stories of key characters from the Telesā Series. It can be read as a standalone book.

Fast Talking PI

Fast Talking PI
Author: Selina Tusitala Marsh
Publisher: Auckland University Press
Total Pages: 78
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1775580660

Winner, 2010 NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry The judging panel found Marsh's collection exhilarating: "The poems are sensuous but strong, using lush imagery and clear rhythms and repetitions to power them forward." Touching on the poet's community, ancestry, influences, and history, this debut collection of poetry lives up to the meaning behind the artist's name—&“writer of tales.&” The featured verse is sensuous but strong, using lush imagery, clear rhythms, and repetitions to power it forward. With a unique Pacific lyricism, this compendium is structured in three sections that showcase different strengths, from personal poems and political and historical verse to those already destined to become classics. Fighting against historical injustices and exploring the ideas of identity and story—especially those associated with the afakasi or half-caste experience in a postcolonial world—this compilation will gratify fans of poetry everywhere.

The Bone Bearer

The Bone Bearer
Author: Lani Wendt Young
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2013-06-30
Genre:
ISBN: 9781622099764

I Am Daniel Tahi

I Am Daniel Tahi
Author: Lani Wendt Young
Publisher:
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2019-08
Genre: Folklore
ISBN: 9780995106765

A new edition of the spin-off title from the Telesa series, from best-selling ACP Pacific Laureate Lani Wendt-Young. So how did it all start? What did I think of Leila when I first saw her? Did I think she was breathtakingly beautiful the first moment I laid eyes on her? No. Did I fall madly in love with her on that first day we met? No. So what did I notice first? Her anger. She reeked of it... Get to know Daniel Tahi in a whole new way as he tells HIS side of the Telesa story. This novella is a collection of first person narratives from Daniel. It is a companion book to the Telesa Series.

Teine Samoa

Teine Samoa
Author: Dahlia Malaeulu
Publisher:
Total Pages: 154
Release: 2020
Genre:
ISBN: 9780473527495

Teine Samoa means Samoan girl. It's a label that carries with it an unspoken duty to obey, serve and respect your family and Samoan culture. But who can be teine Samoa? When should you be teine Samoa? And how can you be teine Samoa outside of Samoa? Lani is an afakasi, and is unsure of her Samoan heritage and what being Samoan even means. But one thing she knows for sure is that she's afraid of Vai and the 'Real Samoans'. Masina, the free-spirited daughter of a Church Minister, is bound by parental expectations and struggling to fulfill the destiny set by her parents. Teuila is the good Islander girl and proud teine Samoa who realises she doesn't want to be a 'switcher' anymore. How will these junior high school students learn to be, understand and fulfill their obligations as Teine Samoa, living in New Zealand? Teine Samoa is a journey of cultural identity and discovery for four junior high school students, their families, their teachers and, most importantly, anyone who has ever faced the challenges of being a teine Samoa.

Ocean's Kiss

Ocean's Kiss
Author: Lani Wendt Young
Publisher:
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2020-11-17
Genre:
ISBN:

When danger threatens the island of Niua, an ancient weapon is unleashed and Daniel Tahi must decide if he will embrace his Tongan heritage and stand alongside the Vasa Loloa sisterhood of his mother's people. A standalone novel from the Telesā World. Inspired by mythology of Oceania, the richness of Samoan culture and the very real threats to the Pacific caused by climate change.