Among the first published works of Tongan literature, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, were 'Epeli Hau'ofa's short stories and Konai Helu Thaman's poetry. Hau'ofa's popular collection of short stories Tales of the Tikong (1973) was followed by a novel, Kisses in the Nederends, 1987, noted for its satirical style. The emergence of Tonga

Tonga

Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...

n written literature

Literature

Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

 (as distinct from oral literature

Oral literature

Oral literature corresponds in the sphere of the spoken word to literature as literature operates in the domain of the written word. It thus forms a generally more fundamental component of culture, but operates in many ways as one might expect literature to do...

) took place in the context of the development of indigenous Pacific Islander

Pacific Islander

Pacific Islander , is a geographic term to describe the indigenous inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, these three regions, together with their islands consist of:Polynesia:...

literature in the Pacific region as a whole, beginning in the late 1960s.

Source

• "English in the South Pacific", John Lynch and France Mugler, University of the South Pacific