Award-winning Aotearoa author Tania Roxborogh has won a 2026 Génération Mer literary award in France for the French edition of her children’s novel Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea.

The novel has been named the winner of the Étoiles bleues – Ados category, an award celebrating books that engage young readers with the ocean and the marine world.

Originally published in Aotearoa by Huia Publishers, Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea was published in France by Au Vent des Îles, translated into French by Christine Roth.

Roxborogh said she was deeply honoured that Charlie’s story had travelled from Aotearoa and found a home with readers on the other side of the world.

“It means a great deal to me that a story about a wee Māori boy from Aotearoa New Zealand has crossed the ocean and been welcomed in France. Stories connect us, and I think our oceans connect us too.

“In Charlie Tangaroa, the sea isn’t simply the setting for the story. Charlie’s identity and whakapapa are connected to Tangaroa and to the moana. If we understand the ocean as something we are in relationship with, rather than simply something we own and use, that changes how we behave towards it.

“I’m enormously grateful to Génération Mer for recognising Charlie’s story, to Christian Robert and the team at Au Vent des Îles for bringing the book to French readers, and especially to Christine Roth, whose translation has allowed French children to connect with Charlie and his world.”

Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea follows Charlie, a Māori boy who discovers he has an extraordinary connection to the ocean and the creatures within it. The novel draws on mātauranga Māori, whakapapa and the relationship between people and the natural world, combining adventure and humour with questions about belonging, identity and care for the environment.

The Génération Mer award adds an international honour to a book that has already received significant recognition in Aotearoa.

Roxborogh said seeing Charlie embraced internationally was particularly meaningful.

“When you write a story that is grounded so firmly in Aotearoa, you don’t necessarily know whether readers thousands of kilometres away will see themselves in it. This award reminds me that the particular can also be universal. Charlie can remain completely himself — a Māori kid from Aotearoa — and still make a connection with a young reader in France.”

The Génération Mer award will be celebrated in France in October.