Among the first published works of Tongan literature, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, were 'Epeli Hau'ofa's short stories and

Konai Helu Thaman Konai Helu Thaman (born 1946) is a poet and academic from Tonga. Career Between 1969 and 1972, Thaman was a teacher in Tonga. She has worked at the University of the South Pacific since 1974 and currently holds a Personal Chair in Pacific Edu ...

's poetry. Hau'ofa's popular collection of short stories ''Tales of the Tikongs'' (1973) was followed by a novel, ''Kisses in the Nederends'', 1987, noted for its satirical style. The emergence of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

n written literature (as distinct from oral literature) took place in the context of the development of indigenous

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

literature in the Pacific region as a whole, beginning in the late 1960s.

Sources

"English in the South Pacific"
John Lynch and France Mugler, University of the South Pacific

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