Pacific Islanders in Publishing
Melanesia
Melanesians are people who are indigenous to any of the island groups of Fiji, the Maluku Islands, Kanaky New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, the Torres Strait Islands, Vanuatu, and West Papua.
Adult Fiction
Rashmii Bell
Papua New Guinean
(she/her)
Rashmii Bell is a Papuan New Guinean writer and editor of the first-ever anthology of writing by Papua New Guinean women, My Walk to Equality. Based in Brisbane, Rashmii writes essays and opinion commentary. Several of Rashmii's essays have been published in Pukpuk Publications' annual paperback anthologies, Crocodile Prize 2015 and Crocodile Prize 2016.
Gina Cole
Fijian/Kai Valagi
(she/her)
Gina Cole is a freelance writer and lives in Tāmaki Makaurau. Her work has been widely anthologized and published in literary journals. Her collection Black Ice Matter won the Hubert Church Prize for Best First Book Fiction at the 2017 Ockham Book Awards. Her second book Na Viro is a science fiction fantasy novel and a work of Pasifikafuturism.
Pierre Gope
Kanak
(he/him)
Pierre Wakaw Gope is a poet, writer, and playwright. He was born in New Caledonia, in Maré, one of the islands of the Loyalty Archipelago, in one of the clans of the Pénélo tribe. He is the creator of more than a dozen theater works, the founder of his own troupe, the Compagnie Cebue, and the recipient of the 2009 Vi Nimö of the SILO (International Book Fair of Oceania) for Where is the law? Okorentit?
Déwé Gorodé
Kanak
(she/her)
Déwé Gorodey, or Déwé Gorodé, is a Kanak/New Caledonian teacher, writer, feminist, and politician. She was active in agitating for independence from France in the 1970s. She has published poetry, short stories and novels. She was a member of the New Caledonia government, representing the pro-independence Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front. She wrote the first Kanak novel, L'Epave (2005) which has since been translated into English as 'The Wreck'.
Léopold Hnacipan
Kanak
(he/him)
Originally from Lifou, Léopold Hnacipan is a French teacher at Voh high school in New Caledonia. In 2008, his short story Hélène won first prize in the ‘Writing in Oceania’ competition. He is the author of a short story published in the anthology Olé Oléti in 2010, of De Séduction en Séduction in 2015, Les fleurs de Potr, and Passerelle published in 2017 (by Editions Humanis). His latest book, Quand la coutume bombarde et autres nouvelles, is also published by Humanis.
Marcel Meltherorong
ni-Vanuatu
(he/him)
Marcel is an author, musician, storyteller, producer, curator and visual artist, whose creative work has been widely recognised in Vanuatu and internationally. Born in Noumea, he is from the island of Vao in Vanuatu. His first novel, Tôghàn, was published in 2007 by Éditions de l’Alliance Française du Vanuatu, which was shortlisted for the RFO prize in 2007 and reprinted by the publisher in 2020. In 2023, Marcel won a writing residency in French Polynesia.
Noëlla Poemate
Kanak
(she/her)
Noëlla has taught French in Tiéta Secondary School since 2007. After winning a literary competition, she published her story, Tein, with French publisher Banc d'Arguin. Three of her short stories were also published in an anthology, Olé Oléti, along with stories by Léopold Hnacipan (Écrire en Océanie, 2010). Recently, she was invited to the book fair Le Salon du Livre in Vanuatu.
Paul Tavo
ni-Vanuatu
(he/him)
Born in Mallicolo in 1983, Paul Tavo grew up in Port Sandwich Bay in Vanuatu. Holder of a Master's degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Aix-en-Provence, he published a collection of poems, L'âme du kava, in 2010. His first novel Quand le cannibale ricane was published by Éditions de l’Alliance Française in 2015.
Aprila (Emil) Wayar
Papuan
(she/her)
Aprila Wayar, commonly known as Emil, is a Papuan journalist and novelist who grew up in West Java. In 2009, Emil's first novel Mawar Hitam Tanpa Akar made her the first female novelist from Papua. The novel describes the struggle of Indigenous Papuans in the midst of human rights violations committed by security forces.
Steven Edmund Winduo
Papua New Guinean
(he/him)
Steven Edmund Winduo is a Papua New Guinean poet, short story writer, and scholar who teaches at the University of Papua New Guinea. He is the author of the poetry collections Lomo’ha I am, in Spirits’ Voice I Call (1991), Hembemba: Rivers of the Forest (2000), A Rower’s Song (2009), and Detwan How? Poems in Tok Pisin and English (2012) and a short story collection, The Unpainted Mask (2010).
Children's Fiction
Nafiza Azad
Indian-Fijian
(she/her)
Nafiza Azad is a self-identified island girl. Born in Lautoka, Fiji, she currently resides in British Columbia, Canada, where she reads too many books, watches too many K-dramas, and writes stories about girls taing over the world. Nafiza is the coeditor of the young adult anthology Writing in Color and author of The Candle and the Flame, which was nominated for the William C. Morris Award, The Wild Ones, and Road of the Lost. She is represented by Katelyn Detweiler.
Junior Pikioune
Ni-Vanuatu
(he/him)
Junior Pikioune is one of the contributors for Taf Tumas and the author of Sean the Squirrel and Nate the Nightingale.
Thomas Mayor
Torres Strait Islander
(he/his)
Thomas Mayor is a Torres Strait Islander man born on Larrakia country in Darwin. As an Islander growing up on the mainland, he learned to hunt traditional foods with his father and to island dance from the Darwin community of Torres Strait Islanders. In high school, Thomas's English teacher suggested he should become a writer. He didn't think then that he would become one of the first ever Torres Strait Islander authors to have a book published for the general trade. He is now a picture book and adult nonfiction writer.
Nic Naitanui
Fijian
(he/him)
Nic Naitanui—affectively known as NicNat—is the well-known, widely respected and much-loved ruckman of the West Coast Eagles AFL team. Nic was born in Sydney to Fijian parents, before his family moved to Western Australia. Outside of football, Nic is committed to giving back to the community. Nic's first book for children is Little Nic's Big Day.
Anthology Editors
Rebecca T. Olul-Hossen
Ni-Vanuatu
(she/her)
A ni-Vanuatu poet, storyteller, and editor, Rebecca coedited Vanuatu's first women's anthology, Sista, Stanap Strong! (THWUP, 2021) and first nonfiction children's book, Taf Tumas. Her poems and short stories were published in anthologies in Vanuatu, Fiji and Aotearoa, including Sport 47, Voes, Rising Tides, A Game of Two Halves, Va — Stories by Women of the Moana, and a collaborative poem was featured in an NZ climate change anthology, No Other Place to Stand (AUP, Jul 2022). She participated in the 60th Brisbane Writers Festival, the 32nd Medellin Poetry Festival and was one of the Pasifika poets whose poem on climate change featured at COP27. She is committed to growing literature in Oceania.
Rashmii Bell
Papua New Guinean
(she/her)
Rashmii Bell is a Papuan New Guinean writer and editor of the firs-ever anthology of writing by Papua New Guinean women, My Walk to Equality. Based in Brisbane, Rashmii writes essays and opinion commentary. Several of Rashmii's essays have been published in Pukpuk Publications' annual paperback anthologies, Crocodile Prize 2015 and Crocodile Prize 2016.
Poetry
Mary Terriette Aseari
Papua New Guinean
(she/her)
Mary Terriette Aseari is a Papua New Guinean author and the recipient of the 2022 Hibiscus Three Publishing Award. She's an advocate for reducing social injustices faced by Papua New Guinean women. Her collection of poems She Bleeds Words is her debut.
Luc Camoui
Kanak
(he/him)
Luc Camoui is a teacher from Pouébo in New Caledonia. He is the co-author of a collection of poems, Phaanemi, le Ressouvenir (L'Herbier de Feu, 2006), and of a non-fiction book, L'essentialité du singulier à l’universel, de l’universel au singulier, published by Transit in 2018. Correspondances lyriques is an anthology of poems and a correspondence with co-author Georges Waixen Wayewol about politics in New Caledonia Kanaky. It was published by Éditions Expressions in 2023 and illustrated by Will Nerho.
Michael Dom
Papua New Guinean
(he/him)
Michael Theophilus Dom is a Papua New Guinean poet and a postgraduate researcher at University of Adelaide. In 2012, Dom won the Poetry Award of PNG's national literary competition, The Crocodile Prize, for his sonnet 'I met a pig farmer the other day'. His first collection of poetry, At another Crossroads, was published by the UPNG Press in 2013. Michael’s second collection, The Musing of an Assistant Pig Keeper, and two chapbooks, O Arise! and Send words as gifts, were published on the CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Déwé Gorodé
Kanak
(she/her)
Déwé Gorodey, or Déwé Gorodé, is a New Caledonian teacher, writer, feminist, and politician. She was active in agitating for independence from France in the 1970s. She has published poetry, short stories and novels. From 1999 she has been a member of the New Caledonia government, representing the pro-independence Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front. She wrote the first Kanak novel, L'Epave (2005) which has since been translated into English as 'The Wreck'
Jully Makini
Solomon Islander
(she/her)
Jully is a Solomon Islander poet, writer and women's rights activist. She is the author of poems such as Civilized Girl, Praying Parents, and Cartes Postales des îles Salomon (Greetings from the Solomon Islands). in 2017, she received the International Women of Courage Award from the U.S. Secretary of State for her work in promoting women's rights in the Solomon Islands.
Paul Tavo
ni-Vanuatu
(he/him)
Born in Mallicolo in 1983, Paul Tavo grew up in Port Sandwich Bay in Vanuatu. Holder of a Master's degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Aix-en-Provence, he published a collection of poems, L'âme du kava, in 2010. His first novel Quand le cannibale ricane was published by Éditions de l’Alliance Française in 2015.
Georges Waixen Wayewol
Kanak
(he/him)
Georges Waixen Wayewol is a writer and researcher from Maré Island, in New Caledonia. He is the co-author of a collection of poems, Phaanemi, le Ressouvenir (L'Herbier de Feu, 2006), and of a non-fiction book, L'essentialité du singulier à l’universel, de l’universel au singulier, published by Transit in 2018. Correspondances lyriques is an anthology of poems and a correspondence with co-author Luc Camoui about politics in New Caledonia Kanaky. It was published in 2023 (Éditions Expressions) and illustrated by Will Nerho.
Steven Edmund Winduo
Papua New Guinean
(he/him)
Steven Edmund Winduo is a Papua New Guinean poet, short story writer, and scholar who teaches at the University of Papua New Guinea. He is the author of the poetry collections Lomo’ha I am, in Spirits’ Voice I Call (1991), Hembemba: Rivers of the Forest (2000), A Rower’s Song (2009), and Detwan How? Poems in Tok Pisin and English (2012) and a short story collection, The Unpainted Mask (2010).
Memoir
Nonfiction and Essays
Luc Camoui
Kanak
(he/him)
Luc Camoui is a teacher from Pouébo in New Caledonia. He is the co-author of a collection of poems, Phaanemi, le Ressouvenir (L'Herbier de Feu, 2006), and of a non-fiction book, L'essentialité du singulier à l’universel, de l’universel au singulier, published by Transit in 2018. Correspondances lyriques is an anthology of poems and a correspondence with co-author Georges Waixen Wayewol about politics in New Caledonia Kanaky. It was published by Éditions Expressions in 2023 and illustrated by Will Nerho.
Talei Caucau
Fijian
(she/her)
Talei Caucau is a Researcher and Country Coordinator for Melanesian Women Today in Fiji. Talei is from Mua Village on Batiki Island in the Lomaiviti Province of Fiji. She has published journal articles and several articles for nonprofits. Wells Bring Hope Article | Melanesian Women Today
Thomas Mayor
Torres Strait Islander
(he/him)
Thomas Mayor is a Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander man. He is the Assistant National Secretary of the MUA. Thomas is a signatory of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and has been a leading advocate since its inception in May 2017. He is the Chairperson of the Northern Territory Indigenous Labor Network and a director on the Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition board. He is the author of six books published by Hardie Grant and has many articles and essays published across major media providers.
Georges Waixen Wayewol
Kanak
(he/him)
Georges Waixen Wayewol is a writer and researcher from Maré Island, in New Caledonia. He is the co-author of a collection of poems, Phaanemi, le Ressouvenir (L'Herbier de Feu, 2006), and of a non-fiction book, L'essentialité du singulier à l’universel, de l’universel au singulier, published by Transit in 2018. Correspondances lyriques is an anthology of poems and a correspondence with co-author Luc Camoui about politics in New Caledonia Kanaky. It was published in 2023 (Éditions Expressions) and illustrated by Will Nerho.