Stories from Oceania
She couldn’t sleep. So when the cry came, she heard it immediately. “Help me! Please.” A man’s voice. Calling from the road. “Auoi, ou te fia ola.” The Samoan’s universal cry for survival. I want to live. Iva leapt up with her torch, raced down the stairs and peered out the window beside the front… Continue reading Auoi, ou te fia ola
Iva wondered a lot about the woman who had bitten her. Did Dora wake up that morning and feel sick? Dizzy? Breathless? Did she make breakfast for her husband and feel the gnawing of a hunger for human flesh? Was she walking past him and then lose it in an instant, leap and bite? Or… Continue reading Zombies in Samoa?
I wrote this in my journal two years ago and am sharing it here because I still need the reminder! I wrote it after finishing my first EnTri triathlon which was a 500m swim, 10km bike, and 3km run. Almost everything that could go wrong in my triathlon yesterday - went wrong. I had an… Continue reading What else could possibly go wrong?! Everything.
I'm thrilled to have FIRE'S CARESS shortlisted alongside some brilliant books in the 2021 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Congratulations to all the authors! FIRE'S CARESS is the sixth book in the Telesa world. The judges said of Teuila and Keahi's story - "Lani Wendt Young brings her characteristic linguistic flair… Continue reading Some fia-show, fiapoto news!
This year is the 10th anniversary of my first novel, Telesa. The book of my heart that was rejected by 30+ agents/publishers, so we published it ourselves - has since become the story that has lit a #PasifikaReadingFire in so many worldwide. I am honored that Telesa has influenced and inspired many other Oceania creatives… Continue reading Has it really been TEN years?!
It's 2am and I'm hot. No, not as in HOT to get busy with that man who sleeps in the same bed as me. (Even though he is rather delicious.) And not HOT as in supermodel strutting down a catwalk HOT DAAAYUUM GIRL YOU ARE ON FIRE WITH YOUR SEXILICIOUS SELF hot either. I'm not… Continue reading I’m a Hot Woman of the Night.
(An excerpt from FIRE'S CARESS. Coming November 28th, 2020) Even though he knew what he’d see, it was still an unpleasant surprise. Because there was always the whisper of hope that maybe, just maybe – the black patterning would be gone. As quickly and as unexpectedly as it had come. That the whole thing was… Continue reading Meet Marc Gold – the Cursed
Thirteen years ago our lastest baby was born premature, via an emergency c-section at National Womens Hospital in Auckland New Zealand. She arrived after I stayed in hospital for many weeks trying to #keepHerInUtero and growing for as long as possible. I was sick with pre-eclampsia and each day as I got more swollen and… Continue reading Bella’s World
It's the Baby Demon's birthday next week. She's turning the big THIRTEEN. So in actual fact, she is not a baby. Something she's been telling me since forever. Since January she's been saying that she's BASICALLY thirteen already. At this rate, soon I will blink and she will be BASICALLY twenty-one. The child who is… Continue reading I quit being the Master of the Birthday Party Universe
Hi everyone, its been a long while! The bad news is that I lost my blog/website with all the latest info and writing on it. (Don't ask what I did/didn't do for that to happen. Just know that I am a pitiful procrastinator of all things related to tech and domains and deadlines and reminders… Continue reading I’m Back. With Demons and a Faikakala Summary
Lani Wendt Young 