Historical

Philippa Werry lives in Wellington and writes fiction, non-fiction, poetry and plays for children and young adults, as well as articles, reviews and non-fiction for adults.
Further information is on her website at http://www.philippawerry.co.nz/

Pip Desmond’s book Trust: A True Story of Women and Gangs won the Best First Book of Non-Fiction in the 2010 NZ Post Book Awards. It is based on Pip’s experiences as a member of Aroha Trust, a work cooperative for young gang women in Wellington in the late 1970s. Woven through the book are the life stories of 11 of the women, recorded by Pip 20 years later. In spite of its difficult subject matter, Trust contains a strong message of hope, resilience and the importance of second chances. The NZ Post judging panel described it as ‘an extraordinary work from someone with unparalleled and probably unrepeatable access to women in gangs’, and ‘a potent combination of oral history and memoir’ that ‘packs a powerful punch’. Pip is currently gathering and writing the stories of 12 New Zealand veterans of the Korean War, using oral history techniques, for the Ministry of Culture and Heritage. These men are all in their eighties. A book of their experiences, along with photos, will be published in 2012.

Pip was born in Dunedin and comes from mainly Irish stock.

Coral Atkinson is a fiction writer. She has written novels and her short fiction has appeared in a range of publications in New Zealand and Ireland. Her first book, The Love Apple (2005), was a bestseller. Atkinson says, ‘I have forged a style in my writing that draws on two traditions – New Zealand and Ireland.’ Her second novel, The Paua Tower, was published in 2006, with Siobhan Harvey commenting, ‘Atkinson’s latest is overflowing with all the attributes necessary for a hit’.

Children’s book author and illustrator Gavin Bishop has won numerous national and international awards for his distinctive ink and watercolour illustrations and his original text. Bishop's illustrations have been exhibited at international shows from Japan to Czechoslovakia, and he has appeared as a teacher and guest speaker at many international forums. He has been commissioned to write and design several successful ballets for the Royal NZ Ballet Company and was awarded the prestigious Margaret Mahy Award in 2008. Piano Rock, published in 2008, serves as Bishop's early autobiography, full of tales and illustrations of his childhood years in the railway town of Kingston. The Storylines Gavin Bishop Award was established in 2009 in recognition of his contribution to children's literature.

Tania Roxborogh is a children's writer whose works range from teaching resources to gritty young adult novels. Roxborogh has worked as a high school English and drama teacher since 1989, and her first published work was a drama handbook. Her stories for young adults deal with the anxieties and problems of teenagers in an engaging, realistic manner. In 2006, she was a Writer in Residence at the Dunedin College of Education. She reviews young adult books for the Otago Daily Times. Visit her website www.tkroxborogh.com to find out more.

Susan Brocker writes fiction and non-fiction for both the trade and educational markets. She has published over 50 books spanning a range of topics, including the natural world, social history, conservation and animals. Brocker’s first novel was Restless Spirit, set in Waiouru, against the background of the fight to save the Kaimanawa horses. This was followed by Saving Sam in 2009, Brave Bess and the ANZAC Horses, and Dreams of Warriors in 2010.

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.

Barbara Else is novelist and editor, and also works as a literary agent and manuscript assessor. Known for the sharp humour in her writing, Else won the Victoria University Writer’s Fellowship in 1999, and was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature in 2005. She also received the Creative NZ Scholarship in Letters in 2004 to write the historical novel Wild Latitudes. Else has edited several collections of writing for children and is available to visit schools.

Barbara's latest publication (due out in late September) is Great Mates: 30 New Zealand Stories for Children. In the latest in this ever-popular series of children’s anthologies, Barbara Else has hand-picked the best tales of friendship. Philip Webb has lovingly illustrated each one in a quirky style that helps us imagine the world of each story.

Friendship is a universal theme for Kiwi kids. This collection of 30 New Zealand stories about friends covers a range of emotions and situations: being the new kid at school, competing with friends, sharing adventures and jokes, getting furious with your friends and finding friends in unexpected places.

Barbara's novel The Travelling Restaurant has been selected as the New Zealand 2012 IBBY Honour Book for Writing.

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.