Art

Tonga's literary history, which has primarily taken the form of oral tales and stories, has not had a particularly robust written component. However, there was a general movement for expanding Pacific Islander literature on a larger scale in the 1960s and 1970s. Tongan literature publications are scarce, despite the fact that newspapers and a few magazines are published in the Tongan language. Since English is one of the primary languages of teaching and business and is taught in schools, most authors choose to publish their works in English in order to reach a wider audience.

In addition, two writers from Tonga made their debuts during this time. Epeli Hau'ofa is renowned as a writer of short stories, particularly for the anthology Tales of the Vikings and the book Kisses in the Nederlands. He actually moved between Tonga and Fiji, where he lived while traveling. He and his wife founded the literary journal Faikara while they were residing in Tonga. Konai Helu Thaman is an additional writer from Tonga. She has held a number of posts at UNESCO in addition to being a teacher and poet. Numerous of her works have been incorporated into curricula throughout the Pacific.