Jacinda Ardern has written a children’s book, Mum’s Busy Work, about parenting while Prime Minister
Dame Jacinda Ardern is releasing a children’s book,titled Mum’s Busy Work, in surprise news announced today.
“Sometimes procrastination can be productive! At least in this case, because that’s how I came to write Mum’s Busy Work, a children’s book told through the eyes of a child, and based on things my daughter said to me while I was PM," Ardern told her Instagram followers in a video published Thursday morning.
Written by Ardern and illustrated by Kiwi artist Ruby Jones, Mum’s Busy Work will be released on September 30, retailing for $30.
“For every book sold in New Zealand, I’ll be making a $3 donation to the Kindness Collective,” Ardern said. “But for now, here’s a sneak peak of the cover, and a story that I hope captures the love parents have for their children, no matter what else they have going on in life.”
The book is billed as “an inspiring and heartwarming book about the relationship between a working mum and her daughter by the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern”.
Ardern’s daughter Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford was born in 2018. Ardern discovered she was pregnant six days before she became Prime Minister-elect.
When she resigned as Prime Minister in January 2023, shocking the nation, Ardern said she hoped to spend more time with her daughter. “To Neve: Mum is looking forward to being there when you start school this year,” she told reporters.
Mum’s Busy Work is being published by Picture Puffin, a Penguin imprint.
It’s the second book Ardern is releasing this year; her memoir A Different Kind of Power is on shelves in June.
It’s expected to be highly revealing – publisher Penguin has called it “deeply personal” – and will see Ardern reflecting on her rise from rural Waikato to becoming the Prime Minister of New Zealand at 37.
“I’ve tried to put on a page how it feels to lead – all the highs and lows, the parts of the job people don’t often see, and the many lessons I learned along the way,” she said when announcing the release in January. “I also wanted to share why I believe in empathetic leadership, and that kindness isn’t just something we should teach our kids, there’s a place for it in politics too”.
Ardern signed a book deal with Penguin, the Herald revealed in June 2023, after reports of a bidding in the publishing industry. She hasn’t discussed the financial details, but it’s understood to be worth more than $1 million.
She was reluctant when first approached, and initially said no. “I didn’t want to write a book that hauled over the internal politics of the last five years,” she explained. “Then someone convinced me that I didn’t have to. That maybe it might be worth expanding on some of things I talked about in my valedictory instead – like the idea you can be your own kind of leader and still make a difference.”
Ardern was the subject of the 2020 biography Jacinda Ardern: A New Kind of Leader, written by Madeleine Chapman (now editor of The Spinoff) and described as “fresh and original” by Steve Braunias in his review for Newsroom.
A 2021 book, Jacinda Ardern - Leading with Empathy, by Vani and Carl A Harte, drew comments from the former Prime Minister that she was “misled” about the angle, expecting it to be about women and leadership, not solely her.
In addition to Ardern’s books landing on shelves this year, she will also be seen on screens.
New documentary Prime Minister – endorsed by Ardern herself and featuring footage by Clarke Gayford – premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January, where it won filmmakers Lindsay Utz and Michelle Walshe the Audience Award.