The Kererū Almanac – Winter 2026

Time flies when you’re doing a lot of things.

A special welcome today to our new subscribers. it was great to meet you all at the recent book fairs we attended. To those who bought a book or adopted a Kererū, we hope you’re enjoying it. To those who are simply keeping up to date, welcome.

Today we’re looking back at some of the fun moments and updating on our plans ahead.

Notes from Cohen

Halfway through another year – where does the time go.

The last few months have been a really interesting period for exploring and looking towards my professional growth, mostly what it means for my writing and this fantastical project of Cohen and Kleo.

One of the big things I’ve come to learn is who these books are for and what that means for sharing them. Being a children’s book, my audience and readers are, of course, children (no surprises there) but those who are buying the book are usually adults because, of course, they have the money. You’d think this would be obvious, but I think having almost all sales until recently come exclusively through family, friends, and other close contacts warped the perspective.

This ties into the other learning, which is that I need to find dedicated time for the book at the times when I’m most productive. That’s not squeezing in an hour of work at 6pm after a full day at the office, or a couple of hours on a weekend when I’m catching up on chores and also trying to rest.

So my next step looks like changing my work-life balance to make this happen.
Perhaps it’s fewer days at the office job, perhaps it’s moving more of the weekend chores to the weekday evenings, or maybe it’s changing things up with a new role. There’s also a more nuclear option but I think we might hold that in reserve for a while.

I’m looking forward to the next few months and truly giving this project the time I want it to have and the time it deserves.

The Book Nook

• Kleo the Kererū at the Dog Shelter has just dropped as an audiobook. You can check it out on Spotify and most other listening platforms.
• We had some great success at book fairs in Hamilton and Waikanae. Sharing our story with many little and bigger readers with a dozen or so copies and Kererū finding new homes.
• The artwork for our second print book Kleo the Kererū and the Palace Cat is coming along beautifully. Our artist, Kari, is painting incredible pieces and we’re really excited to put the book together.

On the Horizon

• We’ve got an exciting mini-adventure later this week. We’ll be looking to share highlights on our socials.
• Cohen and Kleo would love to hit the road to share our story (well, at least in the Wellington Region) with visits to schools, kindergartens, and more. A reading and some activities perhaps? There’s still research to do but if you know a school or such in the area that might like a visit we’d love to hear about it.
• Our eyes are out for more book fairs and other opportunities to be out and about sharing the book.

From our community

• During the book fairs, we ran a little poll asking for thoughts on cover designs for the next book. It was great to hear the feedback on the designs and see how different people saw different things in the art.
  The results of the polls over the month were pretty 50/50, but there were some interesting suggestions. We think you’ll like what we’ve settled on (but you’ll have to wait and see)
• This poll was also a competition, with one winner for each book fair. Congratulations to both winners! They’ll be getting their own copy of Kleo the Kererū and the Palace Cat after launch and a new Kererū friend.

Until Next Time

Cohen and Kleo