Anika Moa has always been a storyteller –whether through her award-winning waiata, TV shows and podcasts or her debut children’s book The Witch of Maketu and the Bleating Lambs. Which was a finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults.
Sitting down to catch up with the Weekly, Anika, 45, remembers where it all began – with the countless bedtime tales she told her four children during their earlier years.
“I used to love telling the kids bedtime stories and freaking them out,” she laughs.
“I would tell the same story about a prince and princess or prince and prince, who go into the forest to battle ogres and eat veges. It would get more far-fetched every night!”
Finding joy through writing and family
Her kids – twins Barry and Taane, 14, Soren, 10, and Marigold, six – have now mostly outgrown the night-time ritual. But Anika is delighted to have reprised the magic while reading her book to children around the country.
“I’ve been doing heaps of book festivals, Songs for Bubbas shows, reading to kids and feeling wonderful about creating a community of parents that entertain their kids through me,” she enthuses.
Writing has become a healing and happy place.
“I like sitting down and writing, and being creative,” she says.
“It’s really good for my mental health.”
It’s a wholesome shift from the Anika of old, who, fuelled by creativity, ADHD and a love of her work, often pushed past her own limits.
“I’ve had to slow down the past three years because my work ethic was taking over my life and I was really unwell,” she admits.
“I hate slowing down because I love working. But it helps for me to breathe, walk and be near the ocean, as well as hang out with my kids. That’s more inspiring than working like a mongrel.”
Facing a type 1 diabetes diagnosis
In 2022, the multi-talented star was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes after initially being told it was type 2. which is generally easier to manage with diet and also lifestyle. Type 1 is an incurable autoimmune condition requiring lifelong treatment. It can have scary, even life-threatening consequences when not carefully managed, as Anika was reminded recently when two CGM (continuous glucose monitoring) monitors. Which track her glucose levels, malfunctioned over one weekend.
Unknowingly, for 24 hours, she was without insulin, which is usually dispensed automatically via a pump linked to the monitor. Vomiting and too foggy to understand what was happening, Anika’s family rushed her to the hospital by ambulance.
A scary glucose emergency
“The thing with diabetes is when you get dizzy and feel unwell, you can’t think straight,” explains Anika.
“You need your support network. I’ve been to the hospital twice now. It’s a scary experience, but also amazing because they’re really onto it. I try to talk about it a lot because I don’t want people to be in the dark and feel alone.”
With a three-book deal with Penguin Random House, Anika’s considering writing her next story about diabetes.
“I kind of like that idea,” she says.
“A kid’s book about what it means, but communicating it in a funny and light-hearted way, when actually, it’s an autoimmune disease that f***s you up. “But you never know with me. We’ll see what comes out of my nutty head. I’m a mother in winter with sick kids, so I don’t have the time or space at the moment.”
Creating music again after a decade
When she does have the capacity, Anika has been channelling her creativity for the past eight months into writing her first album for adults in almost a decade.
“Me and my co-producer Jeremy just do it when we can,” she says.
“Our kids are at school, so if they’re sick, we can’t do it. We work around each other’s lives.”
She’s also just returned from a bucket-list trip to Greece – the first time she’s been overseas not for work, “when you’re in and out of towns on sleeper buses”.
She recalls, “It was absolutely beautiful. I would recommend that everyone, every once in a while, doing something for themselves and getting out exploring the world if you can. I loved it. “The water was just cold and fresh. I snorkelled every day, went underwater and it felt like I was home, but also living this amazing dream.”
Embracing slow and simple happiness
Known and loved for being unapologetically herself, outspoken humour and all. Anika shares this season of her life is all about embracing slow and a simple happiness.
“I’ve become this really introverted person who just doesn’t see the world as money and success anymore,” she reflects.
“I’m more driven by a need to replace societal expectations with my own of what I want for my life. “I just want to write, walk on the beach and stare at the walls. I deserve a rest. I just want to live simply and be near the water.”
.The Witch of Maketu and the Bleating Lambs is available to buy at Paper Plus, Mighty Ape, and Amazon.
