Jacinda Ardern is the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, whom you might remember for her decisive handling of the Christchurch shooting, and subsequent gun reform, and COVID-19. She graciously took the time to answer some of my questions about her new memoir, and picture book.

1. It’s been two years since you stepped down from office. What made you decide you had enough distance write a memoir? 

To be honest I’m not sure (on some issues) you can ever have enough distance. One period I really struggled to write about for instance, was the decision to leave the church I belonged to, and that was more than twenty years ago. I think it’s just a matter of giving yourself enough time to write, think, and revise!

2. You covered a lot of ground from childhood to end of 2023, who helped you in recollecting and working on your drafts?

I couldn’t have gone into some of the early details without my mum. She kept journals which really helped, and I had a few journals of my own too. I also have a pretty solid memory of my younger years, which I always thought was pretty normal, but perhaps not.

As for writing generally, you might have seen in the acknowledgements that I talked about the writing coach I had. While writing, I needed to transition from being a speech writer, to a long form writer. That took some work! 

3. I always thought writing a memoir as a politician must be hard because there must be an urge to highlight the good of your administration which can ring false. But admitting mistakes could be ammunition for others even though you’re no longer in office. 

Did your experience in debate help you in writing the good you’ve done and what could have been better?  

I never really thought about how a background in debating might help with that! I think the biggest influence in the way you look back on your time in office, is just how self critical you are.

4. A reoccurring theme is how you never envisioned yourself as a leader, but the very qualities you thought disqualified you became your asset. How do you think this message still applies to the polarizing climate today? 

I suspect it applies to politics generally – people self exclude sometimes I think, because of how they see the environment and what they think might be required to succeed. I wanted to challenge that. 

5. Did you reflecting on the lessons that shaped your life and leadership bring any new revelations about yourself? 

I think the biggest journey for me, was starting to look at issues like imposter syndrome differently. 

6. You also just released a picture book inspired by your conversation with your daughter of being a busy working mom. Was the process writing that different than the memoir?

Oh very much so. It was so much quicker! I wrote the first draft one night when I was procrastinating writing a speech.

7. Did you get to collaborate with your illustrator?

I wanted to leave the job to Ruby – she’s such a great artist and so I never thought I would have much to offer on the creative front.

8. While writing these books, you’ve also been a fellow at Harvard and now have moved to the UK, what are you focusing on next? 

I’m still doing work on violent extremism online, climate change, and leadership. I’ll keep doing all of that, while also just trying to live a full life with my family!

You can find Jacinda Ardern on social media, and on her website.