Lino Nelisi

Nelisi was born in 1952 in Avatele, Niue. Her father Ugamea Levi was from Avatele, and mother, Peko, was Samoan.[1]

Nelisi was the first Pacific Island student to graduate with a Master Degree in Education (Pasifika Education) from the University of Auckland Epsom Campus.[1]

Nelisi is a Niue language and culture expert. She began taught in Niue between 1970–1977, and in Auckland from the late 1980s.[1]

Nelisi has published in several Pacific languages, including in English, Māori, Samoan, Tongan, Niuean, Tokelauan, Cook Island Māori and Spanish.[1]

In 2015, Nelisi was the writer in residence at St Joseph's School, Otahuhu.[2]

She has published a number of books for children including:

• Aiani moe Pia aitu (1993)
• Koe ama uga (1994)
• Venise and the little red radio (1996)
• Siones' Tale (1992)
• Te taro O Sione (1992)
• Koe tale ha Sione (1993)
• O le talo Sione (1993)
• Fishing with Spiderwebs (1994)
• Sione Went Fishing (1996)
• Thats the way (1998)
• El taro de Sione (1996)
• Tāne te whetū o te rā (1997)
• Tane steals the show (1997)
• He ika mawhitiwhiti pungawerewere (2000)
• Ko e Pele Kilikiki (2003)
• The Blue Roses (2010)

In the AIM Children’s Book Awards, O le talo Sione (1993) was a finalist in 1993 and Fishing with Spiderwebs was a finalist in 1995.[3] Tāne te whetū o te rā (and its English translation Tane steals the show) was a finalist in the Picture Book category at the 1998 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.[4]

• The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature (1998) Edited by Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780195583489