Conquest of PagesBooks by Oceanian authors: a reading list by country
Oceania spans Australia and New Zealand and the many island nations of the Pacific. Its literature ranges from Aboriginal and Māori storytelling and acclaimed Australian and New Zealand novels to a growing body of writing from the Pacific islands themselves, which can be the hardest to find in English.
How to use this list
Oceania has 14 countries in the read-around-the-world challenge. Below is one well-loved book by an author born in 3 of them — a place to start, not a verdict. The small island nations are a real challenge: look for anthologies, poetry collections and university-press titles, and ask a librarian. Finding them is part of the reward.
A book to start with, country by country
| Country | A place to start |
|---|---|
| Australia | Cloudstreet — Tim Winton |
| New Zealand | The Garden Party and Other Stories — Katherine Mansfield |
| Samoa | Sons for the Return Home — Albert Wendt |
Your pick
No single obvious starting point for these — any author born in the country counts. Search a library catalogue for “literature of” the country, or look at its national prize winners.
- Fiji
- Kiribati
- Marshall Islands
- Micronesia
- Nauru
- Palau
- Papua New Guinea
- Solomon Islands
- Tonga
- Tuvalu
- Vanuatu
Keep going
Other regions: Africa · Asia · Europe · North America · South America. The whole challenge is explained on Read around the world.
In Conquest of Pages each book you finish plants a forest where its author was born, so a list like this one turns into a map you can watch fill in. It is free, and your library stays on your device.