Back in an attractive paperback edition is the award-winning book that helped launch Darryn Joseph as a leading author
and promoter of children’s literature.
Darryn had penned a score of readers for Māori immersion education, before Whakarongo ki ō Tūpuna / Listen to your Ancestors came as his first book for the general market, in 2019. That book won the NZSA Heritage Book Award, Māori section in
2020, and is available from this month in a lower-priced paperback.
Set in a school and rest home, Darryn’s story follows a teacher giving life lessons to her students based on the example
of Māori gods and ancestors. As the story unfolds, the teacher ages and retires, and her granddaughter cares for her
until her death. Her granddaughter also a teacher, then begins to pass on to her pupils lessons from the ancestors.
Written originally in te reo Māori with English alongside, and beautifully illustrated by Munro Te Whata, the bilingual
book dives deep into te ao Māori, the connection to tūpuna and to the natural world, the concepts of aroha and
manaakitanga.
Darryn has gone on to a range of collaborations and translations with noted author-illustrator Donovan Bixley, as well
as judging for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, and being a trustee of the Storylines
Children’s Literature Trust.
THE AUTHORS
Darryn Joseph (Ngāti Maniapoto) is an author and language consultant who was for over 20 years a senior lecturer in
Māori language at Massey University, Palmerston North. He is the author or translator of some 30 books, mainly for Māori
immersion education.
Munro Te Whata (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Niue) is an animator, artist and writer who has illustrated several books. He
lives in Auckland where he works in and teaches animation and illustration.
Whakarongo ki ō Tūpuna — Listen to your Ancestors
Written by Darryn Joseph and Illustrated by Munro Te Whata
Published by Oratia Books
ISBN: 978-0-947506-67-4 | RRP $22.99 | Paperback