Two books by writers from Tonga, set there, that give a real sense of the place: Tales of the Tikongs and Island Kingdom Strikes Back: The Story of an Independent Newspaper in Tonga.
Tonga's best-known fiction in English is Epeli Hau'ofa's Tales of the Tikongs, a satire of a fictional island kingdom that closely mirrors Tonga. Tongan poetry, song and oratory remain strong, and Konai Helu Thaman has published poems in English since the 1970s. Still, few books by writers from Tonga have reached English readers, and much of what is available comes from visiting historians and anthropologists.
Kalafi Moala's Island Kingdom Strikes Back: The Story of an Independent Newspaper in Tonga is a memoir of founding the Taimi 'o Tonga newspaper, set amid the monarchy and the pro-democracy movement. John Martin's An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands in the South Pacific Ocean records William Mariner's four years in Tonga from 1806: chiefs, warfare and religion. Elizabeth Wood-Ellem's Queen Sālote of Tonga: The Story of an Era 1900–1965 traces the beloved queen's life through six decades of change.
Satirical linked stories portraying Tongan society, bureaucracy, church, and aid-era politics in the fictional island kingdom of Tiko, closely mirroring Tonga.
A memoir of founding the Taimi 'o Tonga newspaper, showing 1980s–2000s Tongan politics, the monarchy, press freedom and the pro-democracy movement.
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