By Simon Kent
Article Source

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Friday she has landed an international book deal to reveal her thoughts and motivations on political leadership.

The commission comes just months after the left-wing leader walked away from her job after five tumultuous years in charge of the South Pacific nation.

Ardern, a former president of the International Union of Socialist Youth, said in an Instagram post she would be revealing things that would have inspired her “14-year-old self.”

The 43-year-old unexpectedly bowed out of politics in April, saying she no longer had “enough in the tank” to continue, making an impassioned plea during her tearful final speech to “please take the politics out of climate change.”

She had become increasingly unpopular at home after overseeing some of the toughest coronavirus restrictions anywhere in the world which involved unprecedented crackdowns on personal freedoms.

The former premier insisted she did not want to write “a book that hauled over the internal politics of the last five years”.

Instead, Ardern plans to share how to be “your own kind of leader.”

“I hope when it’s done, it’s the kind of book that would have made a difference to my 14-year-old self,” she added, according to AFP.

There is currently no set release date, she said.

The AFP report sets out the book project has been picked up by publishing houses Penguin, Macmillan and Crown — making it available in the United States, as well as Australia, Britain and New Zealand.

Ardern is due to take up dual fellowships at Harvard University later this year.

Earlier this month the former prime minister received one of New Zealand’s highest honors when she was made a Dame Grand Companion, meaning people will now call her Dame Jacinda.