Curating creativity and care. A place for creating stories together through books and gatherings with nature.

Welcome Haere mai

The Light Library is a collaborative publishing practice weaving bilingual picture books and creative gatherings in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Our work begins with community—children (and grownup ones), artists and nature—coming together to make art that becomes the foundation for stories. Through workshops and creative activations, participants play and explore. These collaborative artworks become the backgrounds for our bilingual books (English and Te Reo Māori), printed locally and rooted in reciprocity.

Threads of Becoming is our evolving book series:
Finding Grace (2023) invites connection through movement and mystery.
Seeking Will (2026) journeys through storms, seeking courage to continue.
Being Mana (in development ) explores presence and the power of becoming.

From the books, workshops and creative gatherings emerge. We facilitate art-making in libraries, parks, and community spaces—weaving storytelling and making-with-our-hands to connect with nature and ourselves.

Seeking Our Way offerings are growing this year—workshops and installations inviting you to map storms, make handmade books and discover embodied practices for navigating change.
Creativity as a way of being with uncertainty.

When we create together, we weave something larger—threads of becoming that hold us and help us stand in the storms of life.

Everything we make is local and printed local. Made with care and offered as an invitation to create, play and together find our way.

The Light Library invites children and adults to join creative making, to be transformed into books and gatherings – be part of the process and explore what emerges.

Celebrating our book and community

  • Emma Hinton, creative nature workshops with tamariki. the Light Library workshop with Arataki Visitor centre.

    Being part of nature

  • Creative nature workshops with tamariki. The Light Library workshop with Auckland Botanic Gardens.

    Creative experience and collective rewriting.

  • Writing a story together and creative play with The Light Library.

    Create together

  • I have a Story to Tell, more pages from a poem and a binding workshop with The Light Library.

    Sharing our stories of place and people

Upcoming Gatherings

April 2026

Story (Creative Nature Series)
Tōtara Park
Thursday 9th April BOOK HERE

Wrap (Creative Nature Series)
Monarch Park
Tuesday 14th April BOOK HERE

May

Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival 2026
8-10 May

Seeking Our Way: Mapping A Storm & Making A Book
Sat 9 May 2026, 1:00pm SOLD OUT

Pause Event: Sun, 24 May, 9am - 2:30pm
Threshold Stories: Making a Book-Poem workshop BOOK HERE

Reading: Seeking Will, Rapua a Will
Glen Eden Library (our local) - Wednesday 4th June

Bookstore

Finding Grace | Kimihia a Grace Book | Pukupuka Finding Grace | Kimihia a Grace Book | Pukupuka
Quick View
Finding Grace | Kimihia a Grace Book | Pukupuka
$23.00

Finding Grace | Kimihia a Grace - Bookstore Copy

A child adventures into nature, finding treasures to share and her own Grace. Bilingual in English and Te Reo Māori

Printing in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Perfect Bound 210mm- 210mm

Limited Edition Copy - Finding Grace | Kimihia a Grace Book Limited Edition Copy - Finding Grace | Kimihia a Grace Book
Quick View
Limited Edition Copy - Finding Grace | Kimihia a Grace Book
$30.00

Finding Grace | Kimihia a Grace

A child adventures into nature, finding treasures to share and her own Grace.

Collector’s Edition - Bound by hand, art book limited to 100 copies, signed by the author and illustrator.

Bilingual in English and Te Reo Māori

Printing in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

210mm- 210mm

Printing is in progress for release May 2023. The Light Library will keep you updated.

Seeking Will | Rapua a Will - Book | Pukupuka Seeking Will | Rapua a Will - Book | Pukupuka
Quick View
Seeking Will | Rapua a Will - Book | Pukupuka
$23.00

Seeking Will | Rapua a Will
A boy and his dog seek the will to keep going through a storm.

Seeking Will is a bilingual picture book (English and Te Reo Māori) about finding courage, connection and the strength to take the next step—even when the path is uncertain.

Beautifully illustrated, community created and printed in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
210mm × 210mm, perfect bound, 40 pages.

Available NOW
Choose pickup (Auckland) or shipping (NZ-wide).

A child adventures into nature, finds treasure to share and her own Grace.

Finding Grace | Kimihia a Grace

Bilingual - English and Te Reo Māori
Picture Book