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In Canvas - NZ Herald today: New Zealand Place Names
Common, Contested and Curious Names from Aotearoa to Zalatown
Peter Dowling & A.W. Reed

@nzgeo.bsky.social @nationallibrarynz.bsky.social @pubspotlight.bsky.social #peterdowling #oratiabooks #newzealand #aotearoa #newzealandplacenames #nzgeo
December 5, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Just right for under the tree come two fun books that will entertain children this Christmas:
A Manulele in a Mango Tree/Le Manulele o nofo i le Mago, in English and Gagana Sāmoa — and Santa needs a NEW BUM!
Available in all good bookstores — read more: oratia.co.nz/childrens-bo...
#oratiabooks
December 5, 2025 at 5:37 AM
Dr Rāpata Wiri talks with Kathryn Ryan on RNZ Nine to Noon about bringing back to print, 100 years from its first publication, the two volumes of Tuhoe The Children of the Mist, by Elsdon Best
www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...
#Tuhoe #Māori #oratiabooks #NgāiTūhoe #urewera #mātaatuawaka
December 3, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Interview with Finnish author-illustrator team, Johanna Venho and Sanna Pelliccioni, talking about Five Oceans' latest publication Thank you, Forest
librointernational.blogspot.com/2025/12/inte...
#oratiabooks #fiveoceans #conservation #forest @forestandbird.bsky.social @abluebox.bsky.social
December 2, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Te Reo Māori: The Basics Explained
by David Kārena-Holmes, available in print, ebook and audiobook
oratia.co.nz/product/te-r...

#oratiabooks #reomāori #tereomāori #māori #māorigrammar @wikimediaaotearoa.bsky.social
November 25, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Te Ahi Kā: The Fires of Occupation explores in photographs, archives and interviews some of the key political, environmental and cultural issues for the iwi as it has sought return of its historical lands at Mangapapapa.
oratia.co.nz/product/te-a... #Māori #MartinToft #WhanganuiRiver #TeAhiKā
November 24, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Reposted by Oratia Books
A day out with Sámi visitors Máret and Kirsten, here performing a joik (pronounced yoik), a traditional form of song in Sámi music at Rutherford Primary Kura.

@oratiabooks.bsky.social

#sámi #wipce2025 #rutherfordprimaryschool
November 21, 2025 at 4:50 AM
At Scorpio Books, Christchurch for Tuesday’s presentation of New Zealand Place Names – Takerei Norton (Ngāi Tahu) and Peter Dowling in discussion

#oratiabooks #newzealandplacenames
November 20, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Writers led by Ihimaera and Grace challenged earlier stereotypes and inherited literary forms, creating a new body of writing that has redefined the Māori in literature.

Available as an ebook
oratia.co.nz/product/from...

#oratiabooks #Māori #Māoriliterature @takahemagazine.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Peter Dowling talks with Dale Husband on Waatea News about the book New Zealand Place Names
Common, Contested and Curious Names from Aotearoa to Zalatown
waateanews.com/2025/11/17/p...

#Aotearoa #NewZealand #WaateaNews @wikimediaaotearoa.bsky.social @nzgeo.bsky.social @nzjh.bsky.social #oratiabooks
Peter Dowling | whats behind our NZ place names?
waateanews.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Reposted by Oratia Books
A day out with Sámi visitors Máret and Kirsten. Thank you Hoani Waititi Marae and Rutherford Primary for the wonderful hosting, and for introducing our Sámi guests to Māori culture and kura. #sámi #māori @oratiabooks.bsky.social
November 18, 2025 at 7:23 AM
At the launch of Tuhoe: The Children of the Mist
by Elsdon Best in Rotorua Public Library. In the photos: Dr Rāpata Wiri (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Ruapani), who wrote the preface of this fifth edition, Kingi Biddle (Ngāti Whakaue) and Oratia publisher Peter Dowling.

#oratiabooks #tuhoe #NgāiTūhoe
November 16, 2025 at 7:25 AM
"A brilliant book for name nerds: full of quirks and facts."

New Zealand Place Names – Common, Contested and Curious Names from Aotearoa to Zalatown by Peter Dowling and A. W. Reed is N.5 this week at Unity Wellington.

#oratiabooks #NewZealandPlaceNames #toponymy
November 14, 2025 at 7:58 PM
On Waatea News: Dr Rāpata Wiri talks about Tuhoe: Children of the Mist. Dr Wiri has written the preface for this new edition of the Elsdon Best classic. Listen to the interview here: waateanews.com/tag/tuhoe-ch...

#oratiabooks #tuhoe #NgāiTūhoe #teurewera #mātaatuawaka #urewera
November 14, 2025 at 5:25 AM
"New Zealand Place Names is a treasure trove of names"

Andrea Molloy reviews New Zealand Place Names:
Common, Contested and Curious Names from Aotearoa to Zalatown

www.nzbooklovers.co.nz/post/new-zea...

#oratiabooks #NewZealandPlaceNames @christchurchlib.bsky.social @nzgeo.bsky.social
New Zealand Place Names: Common, Contested and Curious Names from Aotearoa to Zalatown by Peter Dowling & A.W. Reed
From Aotearoa to Zalatown, Whanganui to Whangārei, Cape Reinga Te Rerenga Wairua to Bluff, New Zealand Place Names is a treasure trove of names. It details the name, feature type, region, history, ori...
www.nzbooklovers.co.nz
November 13, 2025 at 4:19 AM
‘As a tribal historian and a Tūhoe descendant, I believe we are fortunate that this book was published; otherwise our tribal histories and our whakapapa may have been lost forever.’ - Rāpata Wiri, from the book’s preface

www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU25...

#oratiabooks #māori #tribalhistory #Tuhoe
New Zealand’s Greatest Tribal History Returns To Print A Century After Its First Publication
This celebrated two-volume work comes back into print with the guidance of scholar Dr Rāpata Wiri (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Ruapani), whose doctoral thesis provided a re-evaluation of Best’s work.
www.scoop.co.nz
November 12, 2025 at 1:12 AM
The work that has been called 'New Zealand’s greatest tribal history' returns to print a century after its first publication, in quality hardback volumes.
Tuhoe
The Children of the Mist
Elsdon Best
Preface to the fifth edition by Rāpata Wiri
Read the full article here: oratia.co.nz/maori/new-ze...
November 11, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Photos from Unity Books Wellington yesterday evening at the launch of New Zealand Place Names:
From left: Wendy Shaw (NZGB), Heather Lane (Reed estate), Anselm Haanen, Christopher Stephens, Peter Dowling (Author), Joanna Barnes-Wylie (Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand)

#oratiabooks
November 10, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Congratulations to Ross Calman, recipient of the 2025 Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement for non-fiction.
November 7, 2025 at 7:31 AM
From the forests of Finland, a thank you to nature for young readers in Oceania:

Thank you, Forest

Johanna Venho
Illustrated by Sanna Pelliccioni
Translated by Jennifer Pulju Porter

Read the full article here: oratia.co.nz/five-oceans/...

#FiveOceans @abluebox.bsky.social #forest #nature
November 6, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Congratulations to our author Ross Calman 🙌
November 6, 2025 at 7:27 PM