Samoa Language Week
Talofa lava. Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa – Samoa Language Week is on each year in May / June.
Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa – Samoa Language Week celebrates the third most spoken language in New Zealand.
- Visit the Ministry for Pacific Peoples Samoa Language Week page for more resources.
- Like the Gagana Samoa i Aotearoa Facebook page.
- Learn something new The Coconet .
Join us in celebrating Samoa Language Week at the Palmerston North City Library. We have an amazing array of Samoan Language books for children, Samoan movies, Samoan music, travel guides for Samoa and more to offer!
Samoan Language Books for children
Fale Sāmoa Come join Tomasi and his friends as they take a magical ride to learn more about Fale Sāmoa, and why they are so important in Samoan culture.
Kuaka visits Samoa A story about a small Godwit that travels to Samoa to experience the culture and explore the beautiful island.
Samoan Films available from Kanopy, stream for free with your library card
Samoan Authors in the Palmerston North City Library
Born in Apia, Samoa, Albert Wendt has been an influential figure in the developments that have shaped New Zealand and Pacific literature since the 1970s. His books include the powerful Sons for the Return Home (1973). Sons for the Return Home describes the life of a young man from a migrant Samoan family and his love affair with a fellow (Pakeha) student. Wendt drew on his own life experiences to write Sons for the Return Home and the book was later turned into a movie. Wendt’s stories are told with insight, wisdom, humour and compassion. The Palmerston North City Library has a collection of poetry, short stories and novels by Wendt, please do seek out one of the South Pacific’s treasured and best-known writers.
Born in Christchurch, Niu Sila (New Zealand), Tusiata Avia writes (sometimes with painful results) the influences of New Zealand and Samoan cultures in her life. Wild Dogs Under My Skirt was one of Avia’s first collection of poetry, a deeply personal journey exploring themes of power, politics, racism, love, sex and living between cultures.
Samoan Music Artists in the Palmerston North City Library
Poetik is the stage name of Ventry Parker, an independent artist from Apia, Western Samoa. His style of rap, combines both confronting and honest lyricism about subjects such as systemic racism and Polynesian culture lined with a background West Coast-inspired g-funk beats. Listen out for the Conch Shell Horn as well as name drops of Samoa’s most famous beer, Vailima.