2022 Filepic of New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivers a speech during the football draw ceremony for the Australia and New Zealand 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Auckland. — Photo: AFP
Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed on Friday she is writing a book, with a release date still to be set.
Ardern "didn't want to write a book that hauled over the internal politics of the last five years," she posted on social media.
An unnamed person then convinced her she didn't need to write about politics, she said.
"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. And so that’s what I’m planning to do."
Ardern said she was working with a team of publishers, including Penguin in New Zealand and Australia, Macmillan in the UK and Crown in the United States.
There was no set date for when the book will be published as her work on the Christchurch Call was keeping her busy, she said."But I hope when it’s done, it’s the kind of book that would have made a difference to my 14-year-old self," Ardern wrote.
Ardern, who stepped down as prime minister in January, was appointed as special envoy for the Christchurch Call, which she established in the wake of a terror attack in Christchurch that left 50 people dead in 2019. The initiative works across governments, the tech sector, and civil society to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.
She also joined the board of trustees of Prince William's Earthshot Prize.
Earlier in June, Ardern received one of the country's highest accolades in King Charles III's birthday honours, becoming a dame for her services to the state. – dpa
