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Latest books
Roimata Smail (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato-Tainui, England, Scotland, Ireland) is a lawyer specialising for two decades in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. She represented lead claimants in the Waitangi Tribunal inquiry that led to the watershed Hauora Report and the establishment of Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority. She also acted on claims about Māori in prison, pēpi and children removed by Oranga Tamariki and the Crown response to Covid-19 as well as representing the first iwi to receive an offer of Customary Marine Title from the Crown. From a family of teachers, she has a passion for education, running workshops on Te Tiriti (treatytraining.com) and creating waiako.com.
Purchase direct from us, or through Amazon (including Kindle), or for schools and Libraries through Wheelers.
The incredible true story of a boy born in a re-education camp in the heart of the Laos jungle.
The Laos government falls in 1975. Thousands of people are now enemies of the new regime, rounded up and put in camps for hard labour and re-education. Many do not survive. At five years old, his parents wake him in the night and tell him to run. His vivid memories of the escape and adjusting to a new life in New Zealand make for a gripping read. This short book is essential reading for all New Zealanders wanting to understand the refugee experience, and a resource for all schools as part of the Aotearoa New Zealand's Histories curriculum.
Purchase direct from us, or through Amazon (including Kindle), or for schools and Libraries through Wheelers.
A delightful story aimed at helping children navigate feelings of stress and anxiety. Originally written in 2021 to help the author's son navigate the feelings of anxiety he was experiencing during Covid-19 lockdowns in New Zealand. There's a T-Rex in My Tummy is aimed at children aged 3-8 years old, and includes a range of brightly coloured images that will appeal to children and parents alike. Purchase from the author or Available through Wheelers.
Wai Ako Books
Wai Ako Books is a whānau owned publishing house. We are part of Wai Ako Limited, a successful online education programme bringing te Reo Māori and Aotearoa NZ’s histories to over twenty thousand tamariki throughout Aotearoa since 2017.
Author led publishing
We also want to give authors throughout Aotearoa an alternative to traditional publishing and self publishing. We bring industry knowledge to offer the full suite of services of the large publishing houses, transparently priced, and you create the package that is right for your book. We see this part of Wai Ako as being author-led.
Our approach leverages technology to make publishing accessible to more authors. You can choose to print physical copies with our print broking support, or you can forgo this cost and publish as an e-book or on demand printing (for example through Kindle Direct Publishing). E-books and on demand printing are an excellent option to get your book to readers, without investing in inventory, and both give authors a much higher percentage of profit than traditional publishing. We can even create your own website or social media content for you to promote your e-book and retain all profits, as an alternative to selling through Kindle/Amazon for example.
Invitation to publish under Wai Ako imprint
If your book is a good fit for the Wai Ako imprint we may discuss the option to publish under Wai Ako. This may be with the addition of specialist editorial services. This means your book can bear our logo and we can feature you on the Wai Ako websites, which are accessed by thousands of users daily.
Contact Wai Ako Books books@waiako.com