“My Cousin is a Chief in Samoa,” a book by a Danish TV journalist, Johannes Langkilde, tells the story of how the Langkilde Family of Denmark ended up in Samoa and American Samoa.
Johannes Langkilde is an anchorman for national television in Denmark and also a former bureau chief for Danish Broadcasting Corp. in Washington DC. The idea of the book came while he was covering the National Democratic Convention in Philadelphia in 2016. There, he met the late Fagafaga Daniel Langkilde who was a super delegate for American Samoa. The two discovered they were cousins.
“It was a very warm meeting,” said Johannes, “And we decided that I should come to Samoa with my family, which we began planning right away. During the planning of our trip I decided to write a book about how our Danish family ended up in Samoa. The story simply was too good and amazing not to write a book about.”
It was towards the end of the 18th century, that the Danish dragoon, Hans Alfred Langkilde, had to leave Denmark “under dramatic circumstances.” He tours the 7 seas as a whale hunter but then ends up in Samoa, where he meets and marries a chief’s daughter, Melipa Maiava.
They had five children, all of whom get the last name Langkilde, and hence the big Langkilde family is founded in Samoa.
The book tells Hans Alfred Langkilde’s life in the Samoan islands. 
Johannes follows his footsteps looking for answers from the past.
He says the book is also a very personal description of his meeting with his Samoan family, which has in many ways changed his perspective on life, religion, love, family and parenthood.
Johannes visited Samoa and American Samoa in August 2019 to do research for the book, and spent a month touring the islands with his family. “It was an amazing trip and we can’t wait to come back.”
He quips, “Someone once said, that meeting a Samoan makes you want to become a better person. It’s entirely true!”
The book was published by a renowned publishing house, Gyldendal, in Denmark in 2021.
Later, it was picked up by the big German publisher Droemer Knaur and published in German in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Now, it will be soon be available worldwide in English.
The e-book version is available for pre-order on Amazon.com and in 2 weeks the printed paper back version will be available.
