Johanna Knox

ABOUT

In Brief

Johanna Knox is the author of The Fly Papers, a new mystery-adventure series about mutant carnivorous plants. She was inspired to write these books while wondering what the carnivorous plants in her own collection would be like if they developed minds of their own.

Plants loom large in Johanna's working life. She has had a regular spot on National Radio's This Way Up chatting about foraging for wild weeds, and keeps a popular blog about the same subject. She also frequently writes for magazines such as Taste and Good about plants, food, and sustainable ways of living.

She's always happy to talk about writing, the wonders of carnivorous plants, or both.

In Detail

Johanna Knox wrote compulsively at school, often staying awake until all hours working on stories that ended up being 10 pages long when the teacher had only asked for one. However, at that time she didn't want to be a writer any more than she wanted to be an actor, a detective, or a glass blower, all of which seemed attractive and viable career options to her at the time.

It wasn't until she left school and spent two years in Auckland failing art school, but keeping lengthy diaries, that she realised writing might be the one thing her heart was truly in.

She came home to Wellington and spent time writing fiction, attending creative writing courses, and doing voluntary work for a range of peace and environment organisations. She had short stories published and landed proofreading and editing work to keep the wolf from the door. She was thrilled when, in 1995, she was offered work writing for Te Papa, still in its planning stages. One thing led to another, and writing for museum exhibitions became her specialty.

As well as that Johanna:

• continued to write short fiction for journals and anthologies
• had two children
• took the Writing For Children course at Victoria University
• wrote plays and short stories for the School Journal
• worked on contract as a children's book editor for Huia Publishers
• managed and edited youth websites for Smokefree and SunSmart
• wrote feature articles for newspapers and magazines.

She particularly enjoyed writing about plants, food, and sustainability issues and grew fascinated by solar cooking and wild food foraging, writing on these subjects whenever possible. That led to a regular slot on Radio New Zealand's This Way Up, as their 'friendly forager', chatting with host Simon Morton about the hidden uses of common weeds. The show ran about once a month for nearly three years, and Johanna's foraging blog continues to be popular.

Now, with her partner Walter Moala, she runs the small publishing house Hinterlands. Their first book is The Flytrap Snaps, written by Johanna and Illustrated by Sabrina Malcolm. It's book one in The Fly Papers, a mystery-adventure series for 8-12 year olds, full of carnivorous plants. Book two in The Fly Papers is coming out in 2012.

Reviews have been positive: 'Knox has a wonderful way of writing for younger readers - plain but not patronising and with a gentle humour that lends itself to make The Flytrap Snaps as enjoyable for adults as it is for kids (thereby fulfilling the requirement of being great to read out-loud)'. BookieMonster Book Reviews

Johanna has also been contracted to write a completely different kind of book for Allen and Unwin, due for release next year, but further details are still under wraps.

For more information about The Fly Papers and carnivorous plants see http://theflypapersbooks.blogspot.com/