: NEWS :

Make sure you catch ‘Catching All the Clues’:

Fabulous to receive this great new title from Hodder&Stoughton UK. It looks fabulous, and is brilliant for any young detective in your life. See the ‘Books’ page for ordering information.

Otago College of Education Creative NZ Children’s Writer in Residence 2025

I am so excited to have been awarded this fellowship for 2025. What a gift to have the time, space and resources to focus on writing. I can’t wait to get started! You can follow the link here .

London’s Calling!

The HarperCollins Author Party is on in July, and I am winging my way over to join in! I am looking forward to putting faces to the names of my wonderful editorial team over there, and chatting to authors about all things writing. A garden party in the gorgeous Victoria & Albert Museum John Madejski Garden, champagne and great company - I can’t wait!

‘Pav Deconstructed’ is almost ready … and it is looking beautiful!

Pavlova Press have released their cover reveal for Pav Deconstructed and it is looking gorgeous! So delighted to have ‘Time, waltzing’ included in this collection. I will keep you posted when it is out for purchase - I think it will be the coffee table book of this summer! You can read about it here.

PHANTOM BILLSTICKERS NATIONAL POETRY DAY - Children’s Poetry Competition - ‘Taniwha Tumble’ and ‘Swallowing the Sun’ receive placings!

Writing poetry for children might just be my newfound love! I had a lot of fun writing some poems for this competition, and I am delighted that ‘Taniwha Tumble’ and ‘Swallowing the Sun’ were place getters in the competition. Thank you to The Poets XYZ for such a fun reason to write some poems for children, and to the judge Bill Naglekerke for his kind comments on my work. You can read about it here.

‘New Zealand: A Wild Wonderland’ - Hodder and Stoughton

This stunning new title is now out to order. It is my first book with Hodder and Stoughton and it is going to be a stunner! I am looking forward to the author’s copies arriving soon. You can have an online look here.

NZ POETRY SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION - A ‘COMMENDED’ PLACING

Many thanks to the judges of the 2022 NZ Poetry Society International Poetry Competition who awarded ‘Myths’ a ‘Commended’ placing in the Open Adult Section. I am looking forward to seeing the poem in print when their anthology hits the shelves.

‘HEREWEKA’ - OTAGO DAILY TIMES (OCTOBER 2021)

It was great to have ‘Hereweka’ in the pages of the Otago Daily Times this month. It’s nice when a poem lands in the hands of a local audience who love the same landscapes.

INTERVIEW WITH OAR.FM DUNEDIN

Such a delight to chat with Jeff Harford on OAR.fm for the Dunedin ‘Write Spot’ segment. Thanks for the opportunity to spend some time talking about writing - it was great fun.

Interview on Write Spot

‘AWARD PROVIDES NOVEL APPROACH’ - ODT Article

It was nice to have this article appear in the ODT. Thanks to Wyatt Ryder for the time to talk about this new project.

Read the ODT article here

WINNER OF THE STORYLINES JANICE MARRIOTT MENTORING AWARD 2022

I was delighted to be awarded this mentorship for my children’s novel The Boy Who Fell From the Clouds. I am looking forward to having Janice guide me through the various stages needed to have the manuscript meet publication standards. Thank you , Janice, for this great opportunity! You can read about the award here.

‘Time waltzing’ - OTAGO DAILY TIMES (SEPTEMBER 2021)

Lovely to have my poem ‘Time Waltzing’ published in the ODT.

next steps series : sunshine books (SEPTEMBER 2021)

The Salt Spray gang are back in action! It is great to have the cast of characters re-energised with Sunshine Books and to be part of the writing team.

READY TO READ TITLES ARE OUT BEING READ : PHONICS PLUS SERIES, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SEPTEMBER 2021)

It is exciting that my new titles within the Ministry of Education ‘Ready to Ready: Phonics Plus’ series are now out in NZ classrooms. These are such gorgeous, NZ-inspired stories. Thanks to Stevie Mahardhika and Giselle Clarkson for their wonderful work at illustrating the texts and bringing these characters to life.

publication of sunshine starters : SUNSHINE BOOKS, WENDY PYE PUBLISHING (march 2021)

The new titles in the Sunshine Starter series have arrived and they look amazing. A huge thank you to the team at Sunshine, and to the amazing illustrators Serena Zhao and Raffaella Ligi. You can see my full list of Sunshine Books in the ‘Books’ section.

KEEPING TEENS READING:

Thanks to Sue Wootton for publishing this piece on Corpus.

Corpus: Still Reading

NZSA MEntorship programme recipient:

I am delighted that my first YA novel has been accepted for the NZSA Complete Manuscript Mentorship Programme for 2020. Thanks so much to NZSA for this great opportunity!

NZSA Recipients 2020

‘Ready to read’ phonics:

The iconic NZ ‘Ready to Read’ series are launching a great range of phonics texts for NZ classrooms. So excited to be involved in this project. A wonderful cast of characters awaits NZ children as this series comes to life!

phonics with sunshine books … and some fabulous new sunshine starters:

I am delighted that Sunshine Books are continuing with their new phonics series for young readers. The Shy Knight, Bouncing about with Bouncer, The Alien Invasion and Nothing Can Stop Me! will be joining this lovely collection.

I am also looking forward to four fabulous new titles in their Sunshine Starters range - Dragon Dance, Shooting for the Stars, Art is Us and Fins are Fantastic are all due out later this year.

A PELICAN PIRATE, A SPOOKY DISCO & an obstacle course for dinos:

A peg-legged pelican pirate, a disco with DJ Dracula spinning the discs, and a race between a compsognathus and a T-Rex are all on their way! I am very excited to have Dash and Dig, Spook Night and Run to Win all accepted with Harper Collins Uk. And then there’s the ducks who decide they are sick of their tiny pond. Ducks on Trucks has these clever quacks scooping and hammering their way to a water wonderland. Looking forward to theses publications coming out towards the end of this year. They will also be publishing Stunning Stunts, Dig and Tip & Fun to Think amongst their non-fiction titles.

‘Home, coming’ in 1964

If you haven’t stumbled on the new literary journal 1964, you need to get your hands on a copy. I am delighted that ‘Home, coming’ is a poem included in their first edition. The magazine focuses on writing which celebrates the love of mountains and the outdoors, aptly named 1964 after the year Mount Aspiring National Park was formed.

1964

‘Time, jumping’ in corpus : conversations about medicine and life

I am delighted to have ‘Time, Jumping’ included in Sue Wootton’s online journal ‘Corpus: Conversations about medicine and life’. This is such an outstanding publication, well worth exploring if you haven't already.

https://corpus.nz/time-jumping-facing-dementia-and-death/

NEW TITLES FOR 2020: Harper Collins UK ‘collins big cat’ & flying start books ‘red rocket readers’

I have enjoyed working with two new companies over the past few months. Harper Collins UK are publishing some fun titles in their highly acclaimed Big Cat Collins’ series. Fix It, Fox; Buzz, Hop, Zip!; The Power Cut; Train to Win and Stunning Stunts are all due out in 2020.

I’ve also officially blasted off with the Red Rocket Readers team. Flying Start Books have accepted three non-fiction titles. I’m looking forward to seeing Mind Work, Mighty Muscles and Plastic and Our Planet once they have been through their final stages of editing.

publication of sunshine starters : SUNSHINE BOOKS, WENDY PYE PUBLISHING (APRIL 2019)

The new titles in the Sunshine Starter series have arrived and they look as gorgeous as ever! Thank you to Jenny Cooper, Astrid Matijasevic and Philip Webb for the wonderful illustrations. You can see my full list of Sunshine Books in the ‘Books’ section, and you can purchase titles here. 

nga kupu waikato is published (April 2019)

Nga Kupu Waikato: An Anthology of Waikato Poetry has been published and launched in Hamilton. Delighted to see ‘An Education’ and ‘Hoki Mai’ included in this publication.

Print inspired from ‘autumnal rising’ - a pALETTE OF POETRY Art Fundraiser (DECEMBER 2018)

I was delighted to have local Dunedin print maker Anna Reid complete this gorgeous print in the recent ‘Palette of Poetry’ Art Fundraiser for ‘Poems in the Waiting Room’. It is inspired from my poem ‘Autumnal Rising’:

‘staying still’ selected as ‘Publisher’s top pick’ FOR 2018 (December 2018)

Staying Still has been selected as Wendy Pye Publishing’s ‘Publisher’s Pick’ for 2018 in the ‘Publisher Association of New Zealand’s’ end of year publication. It’s a lovely non-fiction text, encouraging young readers to explore mindfulness.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOY COWLEY AWARD (March, 2018)

Wonderful news that Skipper and Scout: A Summer’s Walkabout, a picture book manuscript, has been shortlisted for the Joy Cowley Award. I had a great time at the Storylines Awards in Auckland, and thank the organisers for the placing and their encouraging comments. You can read more here.

nzsa manuscript assessment recipient 2018

Talbot and Twitch, my first children’s novel, has been selected on the NZSA Manuscript Assessment Programme. Pleased that this will get the chance to have some editorial feedback from an established NZ children’s writer, and delighted it reached the standard for selection. You can read about it here.