Authors

Sitiveni Halapua

Prominent Tongan academic, Sitiveni Halapua (PhD Economics, University of Kent, UK) was Director of the Pacific Island Development Program in the East-West Centre in Hawaii for over two decades and as Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders and its Standing Committee, 1992-2010, before being elected to Parliament in the Kingdom of Tonga. It was in the execution of these roles that he began to formulate a theory and practice of Talanoa, which was used in post-coup Fiji, the Solomon Islands’ conflict and the Kingdom of Tonga’s civil unrest and political reform.

He pioneered the philosophy of Talanoa and was Director of the Talanoa and Development Project, based in New Zealand. He notably applyied his Talanoa philosophy to regional conflicts, such as that of post-coup Fiji, Solomon Islands tensions and democratic reform in Tonga.

​One of the most influential philosophical voices in Tonga today, Dr. Sitiveni Halapua proposed a new way of shaping political decision-making so that it accommodates more justice and less conflict now and into the future.

Lisala Halapua

Finalist in the 2017 New Zealand Book Awards For Children and Young Adults, New Zealand – Tongan author and illustrator Lisala Halapua brings his Tongan grandmother’s stories to life in his Island Fables picture book series.