Feana Tu‘akoi is a Kirikiriroa-based writer, with a strong background in educational writing. She has about 250 published titles to her name, including stories, poems, picture books, school readers, plays, articles, activities, chapter books and radio stories. eight of her ten trade books for children have been named in various awards and her work has been translated into several languages.

Feana is the 2024 University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence. She was a judge for the NZCYA Book Awards in 2023 and Massey University Writer in Residence in 2022.

Feana began writing when her four children were pre-schoolers, as she was unable to source books that included Tongan characters, Tongan ideas, or even Tongan legends. She considers it vital for her children to be able to see themselves in print and to read about people and situations that make sense to them. Much of her writing has included Tongan characters and bicultural families like her own. Her hope is that Pacific children who read her work will recognise the value in their own stories and feel empowered to become our writers of the future.