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
Gina Cole
Fijian/Kai Valagi
(she/her)
Gina Cole is a freelance writer who 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 Maré, one of the islands of Kanaky New Caledonia. 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 Gorodé was a teacher, writer, and politician advocating for independence from France in the 1970s. She was a member of the New Caledonia government, representing the pro-independence Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front. Several of her poems and short stories have been published. She wrote the first Kanak novel, L'Epave (2005) which was translated into English as The Wreck in 2011.
Léopold Hnacipan
Kanak
(he/him)
Léopold Hnacipan is a teacher from Lifou, Kanaky New Caledonia. In 2008, his short story "Hélène" won first prize in the ‘Writing in Oceania’ competition. He has short stories in the anthologies Olé Oléti (2010), De Séduction en Séduction (2015), Les fleurs de Potr and Passerelle (2017). His book, Quand la coutume bombarde et autres nouvelles, was published in 2022.
Marcel Meltherorong
ni-Vanuatu
(he/him)
Marcel is a musician, author, producer, curator and visual artist, whose creative work has been widely recognized in Vanuatu and internationally. Born in Noumea, he's from the island of Vao in Vanuatu. His first novel, Tôghàn (2007) was shortlisted for the RFO prize the same year and reprinted by the publisher in 2020. In 2023, Marcel won a writing residency in French Polynesia.
Paul Tavo
ni-Vanuatu
(he/him)
Born in Mallicolo, 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 in 2015.
Aprila (Emil) Wayar
Papua New Guinean
(she/her)
Aprila Wayar, commonly known as Emil, is a journalist and novelist who grew up in West Java. Emil's first novel Mawar Hitam Tanpa Akar (2009) 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, writer, and scholar who teaches at the University of Papua New Guinea. He's 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), 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)
Born in Lautoka, Fiji, Nafiza Azad currently resides in British Columbia, Canada, where she writes stories about girls taking over the world. Nafiza coedited the young adult anthology Writing in Color. She's the 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's 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 Kaurareg and Kalkalgal Aboriginal, a resident of the Torres Strait Island of Erub. He is a human rights advocate who works for the constitutional recognition of Indigenous peoples. He is the author of numerous articles and essays published in the media, as well as several non-fiction books.
Nic Naitanui
Fijian
(he/him)
Nic Naitanui—affectively known as NicNat—is the 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 children book 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! (2021) and first nonfiction children's book, Taf Tumas. Her poems and short stories have been published in various anthologies in Vanuatu, Fiji and Aotearoa. One of her poems on climate change was featured at COP27.
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 Kanaky New Caledonia. He is the co-author of a collection of poems, Phaanemi, le Ressouvenir (2006) and of a non-fiction book, L'essentialité du singulier à l’universel, de l’universel au singulier (2018). Correspondances lyriques is an anthology of poems and a correspondence with co-author Georges Waixen Wayewol about politics in New Caledonia Kanaky, published 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. His first collection of poetry, At another Crossroads, was published 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 Gorodé was a teacher, writer, and politician advocating for independence from France in the 1970s. She was a member of the New Caledonia government, representing the pro-independence Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front. Several of her poems and short stories have been published. She wrote the first Kanak novel, L'Epave (2005) which was translated into English as The Wreck in 2011.
Jully Makini
Solomon Islander
(she/her)
Jully is a Solomon Islander poet, writer and women's rights activist. She's well-known for her poems Civilized Girl, Praying Parents, and 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, 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 in 2015.
Georges Waixen Wayewol
Kanak
(he/him)
Georges Waixen Wayewol is a writer and researcher from Maré (Kanaky New Caledonia). He's the co-author of a collection of poems, Phaanemi, le Ressouvenir (2006), and of a non-fiction book, L'essentialité du singulier à l’universel, de l’universel au singulier (2018). Correspondances lyriques is an anthology of poems and a correspondence with co-author Luc Camoui about politics in New Caledonia Kanaky, published in 2023 and illustrated by Will Nerho.
Steven Edmund Winduo
Papua New Guinean
(he/him)
Steven Edmund Winduo is a Papua New Guinean poet, writer, and scholar who teaches at the University of Papua New Guinea. He's 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), 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 Kanaky New Caledonia. He is the co-author of a collection of poems, Phaanemi, le Ressouvenir (2006) and of a non-fiction book, L'essentialité du singulier à l’universel, de l’universel au singulier (2018). Correspondances lyriques is an anthology of poems and a correspondence with co-author Georges Waixen Wayewol about politics in New Caledonia Kanaky, published 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.
Thomas Mayor
Torres Strait Islander
(he/him)
Thomas Mayor is a Kaurareg and Kalkalgal Aboriginal, a resident of the Torres Strait Island of Erub. He is a human rights advocate who works for the constitutional recognition of Indigenous peoples. He is the author of numerous articles and essays published in the media, as well as several non-fiction books.
Georges Waixen Wayewol
Kanak
(he/him)
Georges Waixen Wayewol is a writer and researcher from Maré (Kanaky New Caledonia). He's the co-author of a collection of poems, Phaanemi, le Ressouvenir (2006), and of a non-fiction book, L'essentialité du singulier à l’universel, de l’universel au singulier (2018). Correspondances lyriques is an anthology of poems and a correspondence with co-author Luc Camoui about politics in New Caledonia Kanaky, published in 2023 and illustrated by Will Nerho.