Last Thursday saw Warkworth Library celebrate Kiribati Independence Day (12 July) with a unique book launch.
In a cross-Council initiative, Warkworth Library, the Central Library’s Heritage Collections team and cartoonist Nooroa Te Hira Anguna have created a set of one-of-a-kind Kiribati language books.
The books teach numbers, colours and ABCs in Kiribati and seek to support Auckland’s Kiribati community – around half of the New Zealand’s overall Kiribati population.
The books are part of the ongoing Te Maroro Project connecting with the Kiribati community in Warkworth. Over the past six months, Warkworth Library and Daren Kamali, Auckland Library’s Senior Curator Pacific (Heritage Collections) have been facilitating outreach programmes and workshops.
As part of the programme, Nooroa ran illustration workshops to create their own drawings and writings, funded by Auckland Art Gallery. As part of the programme, Nooroa ran illustration workshops (funded by Auckland Art Gallery) to create their own drawings and writings, then used them as a basis for artwork in the language books.
Auckland Libraries printed the books and distributed them across 22 of Auckland’s Libraries over the city.
Daren was delighted at how the launch went and the production of the books.
“The Te Maroro Project was set up to focus on creating basic Kiribati children’s books for learners of the Kiribati/Gilbertese language, especially NZ born Kiribati children,” he says.
“The vision for this project is to build relations with minority Pacific Island communities around Auckland in terms of gaining momentum for initiatives like the Te Maroro Project.”
The launch was attended by the Hon. Carmel Sepuloni, Associate Minister of Pacific Peoples and the Hon. Tracey Martin.
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