New editions reprints of old stories...

New cover for Mt Vaea and Apa'ula

New cover for new 'Sina and the Tuna' edition

It's been such a blessing to have had the privilege of sharing my story/stories with many and now I'm into reprinting and updating covers on the first two books that helped to begin my writing/author journey.

I suppose if people were to ask why this writing journey is important to me, I'd reply by explaining that when I first came across these stories as an adult and through research in the late 1980s, I realised that as these stories were not getting passed on that generations that stood to lose precious knowledge, the very stories that were part of what it meant to be Samoans 'back in the day'.

These stories would have been commonplace and most Samoans would have known these ancient stories or tala o le vavau. They would be equivalent to what we now know as Disney Princesses or fairy tales of old that we were brought up with such as: the three pigs; Goldilocks and the three bears; Snow White; Cinderella etc.

I now share these stories with individuals, schools, groups and explain the importance of knowing and being comfortable with your indigenous roots (even with non-indigenous backgrounds) and then being successful in whatever you do in with your identity as a base of confidence.

I have a couple of speaking engagements in the next week and looking forward to our book launch tomorrow to encourage more to share their stories and be comfortable with the skin that they/we walk around in...