Junior

Melinda Szymanik is a writer for children and young adults, inspired by television, magazines, world events, history, children and the complex process of ‘growing-up’. She has had stories published in several journals and anthologies. Szymanik wrote the junior novel Jack the Viking when she was in the NZSA’s mentoring programme from 2005-06. She has twice been short-listed for the Joy Cowley Award, in 2003 and 2006.

Gillian Torckler is a medical scientist and diver, and she writes books for children and adults. Her published writing often focuses on the underwater world of New Zealand. Her book titles include Underwater Wonders of New Zealand (1999), and the Life-Size Guide to New Zealand Fish (2003). Many of her books feature the work of her husband, professional photographer, Darryl Torckler. Gillian Torckler is available for school visits as part of the Book Council’s Writers in Schools programme.

John Parker is a writer in a wide range of genres, principally children's literature but also journalism, radio scripts, and reviewing. Parker has published almost 130 fiction and non-fiction books for children. Many of his poems, stories, articles, and plays have appeared in the School Journal and other publications, and have been broadcast on Radio New Zealand and BBC School Radio. In 2006 he was nominated in the Non-Fiction section of the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

Don Long is a multicultural children’s book author and editor. In 1979, he began collaborating with Witi Ihimaera. Together they edited Into the World of Light: an Anthology of Contemporary Māori Writing and then the five volume anthology of contemporary Māori writing Te Ao Mārama. Don did the original research in Hawaiʻi that led to the founding of the New Zealand Book Council’s Writers in Schools scheme. (He visits schools through Writers in Schools.) He worked for Learning Media for many years, where he published Ministry of Education resources for teaching Māori as a second language and led Learning Media's Pasifika section. He founded the Tupu series and the Samoan-language school journal, Fōlauga. For the National Diploma in Children’s Literature he developed the paper on multicultural children’s literature. He now works as a publisher for South Pacific Press.

Dinah Priestley writes for adults and children. She is also an artist, an actor, oral historian, and independent writer and producer for Radio New Zealand. Her local history titles include Old Thorndon (1988), and The Premier's House (1989). She has written and illustrated books for children, including Oscar, Star of the Opera (2004). Priestley has created a mask of Oscar, the star character in this book, which she uses when she visits schools as part of the Writers in Schools programme.

Dawn McMillan is a writer of fiction and non-fiction for children. Many of her books have a focus on animals and evoke New Zealand's natural environment. McMillan’s most successful book, Why do dogs sniff bottoms?, illustrated by Ross Kinnaird, won the Children's Choice Award at the 2003 New Zealand Post Book Awards, and was awarded New Zealand Booksellers Gold in 2005. She has published over 15 picture books and over 140 educational readers, which are used in schools in New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Canada. 

Hawke's Bay author Deborah Burnside has written short stories, junior fiction and a picture-book. She was also instrumental in setting up The Hawke’s Bay Writing Competition, popular with writers in the region.

Raymond Huber is a writer, editor and teacher. Sting (Walker Books, 2009) is his first children’s novel, told from a bee’s viewpoint. Sharon Greenway (Magpies) describes it as a ‘…wonderfully imaginative story.’ A sequel (Wings) will be published by Walker Books early 2011, and a non-fiction picture book Flight of the Honey Bee. Huber has written English and Science workbooks, articles for the School Journal and short stories in Hideous and Hilarious (2007) and Showtime (2008), Random House NZ. His website is www.raymondhuber.co.nz.

Janice Marriott is a writer of fiction and non-fiction for adult and child readers. In 1994 she was the inaugural writer-in-residence at the Auckland College of Education. She won the 1996 Aim Supreme Award and Senior Fiction Award, and in 2007 she won the Junior Fiction Category of the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. She was also a finalist in the Non-Fiction section. Marriott’s writing for adults has appeared in magazines and on radio.

Maria Gill writes books for children and adults that draw on her interest in birds and conservation. Her Rangitoto: Te toka tu moana: The rock standing in the ocean was a Finalist in the non-fiction category, 2010 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards. Her Bird’s-eye View: through the Eyes of New Zealand Birds was shortlisted for the Elsie Locke Award and was selected as a top ten non-fiction Notable Book for 2007 by the Storylines New Zealand Children’s Literature Foundation. Her other titles for children include: Operation Nest Egg, Dogs on the Job, Rangitoto and Save our Seas - selected in 2010 as a top ten non-fiction Notable Book. Maria Gill is available for writer visits as part of the Book Council's Writers in Schools programme. For more information about Maria go to www.mariagill.co.nz.