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Brian Falkner, born and raised in Auckland, is a children's book author and sought-after writing coach. He studied computers at university but dropped out to pursue his love of writing. Professionally, he has worked as a radio journalist, radio copywriter, computer consultant and as a graphic designer. As a writing coach, he tours schools as a sought-after speaker in Australia, New Zealand and the US, and holds 'Write Like an Author' workshops and camps to inspire budding writers.
The author of more than 18 novels for children and young adults, Falkner's first book was Henry and the Flea (2003), the first of many to receive critical praise. Falkner’s 2005 novel Super Freak was nominated in the Junior Fiction category of the 2006 New Zealand Post Book Awards. The Tomorrow Code (2008) was nominated in the Young Adult Fiction category of the 2009 New Zealand Post Book Awards, and the 2009 LIANZA Children's Book Awards. Falkner's Battlesaurus: Rampage at Waterloo (2015) was shortlisted for the 2016 NSW Premier's Awards, and won the Young Adult Fiction category of the 2016 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Most recently, Shooting Stars (2016) touches on themes of survival, personal responsibility and domestic violence, all couched in a unique and gripping adventure story and won the junior fiction award of the 2017 New Zealand Children's Book Awards. His most recent novel is Cassie Clark: Outlaw (2018) and in April, 2020 Scholastic will launch Katipo Joe about a WWII spy. He now lives in Queensland, Australia. |
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Kate Richards is a school librarian and author. Her first book, Trainsurfer, is a coming-of-age adventure. After his mother's death, twelve-year-old orphan Jabu becomes involved with a gang of trainsurfers, who ride the top of Johannesburg trains. After an accident, he travels across 1980s South Africa, searching for his aunt and a place to call home. Trainsurfer is a story about surfing, social injustice, friendship and forgiveness.
Kate’s second book, Saving Thandi is a conservation mystery adventure. A group of teens find themselves in the middle of a poaching crisis that pits them against a dangerous crime syndicate. Jabu’s friend, Ice, needs saving from rock bottom but discovers that he is the hero they all need. Kate is currently writing book three in the series Adventures of Jabu & Friends. It is set in New Zealand. |
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Aaron Topp is a teacher and a writer. His first book Single Fin (Random, 2006) is a coming-of-age story about a boy obsessed with surfing. Based on a true story, Single Fin won an Honour Award in the Young Adult Fiction Category of the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2007. His second book, Creating Waves, is a series of mini-biographies of famous creative New Zealanders who surf. 2015 saw the publication of Topp's Young Adult novel Hucking Cody: A Tale of Betrayal, Jealousy, Brotherly Love and Freeriding (Mary Egan Publishing). The novel tells the story of Cody, a young mountain biker whose unlucky run with girls, his family, and his job starts him on a journey of self-discovery. Hucking Cody received a Storylines Notable Book Award in 2016 and was a finalist for the Young Adult Fiction Award in the 2016 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
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Diane Comer is a graduate of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has been publishing creative non-fiction for over 25 years. Her work has been honoured in the series The Best American Essays and with a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She completed her doctorate on migration and the personal essay at the University of Canterbury in 2014. She focuses on storytelling, one of the most elemental ways to forge meaning and connection. She has taught creative and academic writing workshops at universities in Sweden and the United States of America, as well as community education courses in Christchurch.
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William Brandt is a 1998 graduate of the MA in Creative Writing from Victoria University. He won the Adam Prize for best folio that year, and his short fiction collection Alpha Malewon the Montana Award for Best First Book. It was published in New Zealand and the UK. His short fiction has been translated into French and German and appears in numerous journals and anthologies, including Sport, The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Short Stories and The Flamingo Anthology of New Zealand Short Stories. His novel, The Book of the Film of the Story of My Life, has been translated into Italian and has been published in New Zealand, the UK and the United States. The New Zealand Herald named it in 2010 as one of the best ten New Zealand books of the decade. William is currently working as a script editor and screenplay writer and continues to write short fiction.
Sarah Rose is a New Zealand artist who lives in Glasgow, United Kingdom. She graduated with a Masters of Fine Art from The Glasgow School of Art in 2012, and a Bachelors degree in both Fine Art and Writing Studies from the University of Auckland. Sarah is interested in art, writing and publishing and is involved in individual and collaborative projects. Her work takes the form of writing, sculpture, sound, print and video. Recent work has been focused by the effects of image production, conditions of visibility and influenced by the legacy of oral histories.
She has recently had exhibitions/events at St Paul ST Gallery (NZ), David Dale Gallery and Studios (UK), Market Gallery (UK), The Northern Charter (UK), Platform Gallery (AU), Dog Park Projectspace (NZ) and Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts (NZ). Her work has been screened at Artissima Art Fair in Turin and The White Space, Space Gallery in London. She has been awarded residencies at Hospitalfield Arts (UK), Seoul Art Space_Geumcheon (Kr) and a thematic residency at The Banff Centre (CA) led by Will Holder. She has upcoming exhibitions in Glasgow, Montreal and New York.
She has written exhibition texts and catalogue essays as well as online. Her work has been published by un. Magazine (AU), F.R. David (UK/DE) and Nero Press (IT). In 2010 she was awarded 2nd prize in the New Zealand Dan Davin Poetry Award.
She currently co-hosts a project called tenletters in Glasgow which is interested in publishing art and writing projects. She is also part of an on-going collaboration called lightreading with New Zealand artist Sonya Lacey.
She has recently had exhibitions/events at St Paul ST Gallery (NZ), David Dale Gallery and Studios (UK), Market Gallery (UK), The Northern Charter (UK), Platform Gallery (AU), Dog Park Projectspace (NZ) and Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts (NZ). Her work has been screened at Artissima Art Fair in Turin and The White Space, Space Gallery in London. She has been awarded residencies at Hospitalfield Arts (UK), Seoul Art Space_Geumcheon (Kr) and a thematic residency at The Banff Centre (CA) led by Will Holder. She has upcoming exhibitions in Glasgow, Montreal and New York.
She has written exhibition texts and catalogue essays as well as online. Her work has been published by un. Magazine (AU), F.R. David (UK/DE) and Nero Press (IT). In 2010 she was awarded 2nd prize in the New Zealand Dan Davin Poetry Award.
She currently co-hosts a project called tenletters in Glasgow which is interested in publishing art and writing projects. She is also part of an on-going collaboration called lightreading with New Zealand artist Sonya Lacey.
Sarah Jane Parton is an artist, writer, and director of Pakeha and Cook Island Maori descent.
She holds a Masters in Creative Writing from Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) from Massey University’s College of Creative Arts. She teaches art and critical studies at the College of Creative Arts, as well as English literature and media studies at Victoria University.
Sarah Jane makes art: When she was 23 and fresh out of art school her single channel video work, she's so usual, was included in Telecom Prospect 2004: New Art, New Zealand - a national survey of contemporary art at Wellington's City Gallery. Since then she has had her work included in multiple group shows both nationally and internationally, and has held six solo exhibitions in New Zealand and Australia. These include Guidance at The Physics Room, Christchurch and The Way at City Gallery, Wellington, both in 2007. She has directed music videos, curated art shows, and created large-scale public performances around the country.
She also directs music videos, curates the art component of a boutique art and music festival called Camp A Low Hum, plays in a fem-rock-art band called Fantasing, and writes. He writing has been published in Turbine, the IIML’s online literary journal, and on Scoop. She is currently completing the novel she began during her MA, and working on an art work that investigates love and hope for the lightboxes situated on Wellington’s Courtney Place, a project funded by the Wellington City Council.
Parton lives in Wellington with her partner, musician Luke Buda (The Phoenix Foundation), and their two sons.
She holds a Masters in Creative Writing from Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) from Massey University’s College of Creative Arts. She teaches art and critical studies at the College of Creative Arts, as well as English literature and media studies at Victoria University.
Sarah Jane makes art: When she was 23 and fresh out of art school her single channel video work, she's so usual, was included in Telecom Prospect 2004: New Art, New Zealand - a national survey of contemporary art at Wellington's City Gallery. Since then she has had her work included in multiple group shows both nationally and internationally, and has held six solo exhibitions in New Zealand and Australia. These include Guidance at The Physics Room, Christchurch and The Way at City Gallery, Wellington, both in 2007. She has directed music videos, curated art shows, and created large-scale public performances around the country.
She also directs music videos, curates the art component of a boutique art and music festival called Camp A Low Hum, plays in a fem-rock-art band called Fantasing, and writes. He writing has been published in Turbine, the IIML’s online literary journal, and on Scoop. She is currently completing the novel she began during her MA, and working on an art work that investigates love and hope for the lightboxes situated on Wellington’s Courtney Place, a project funded by the Wellington City Council.
Parton lives in Wellington with her partner, musician Luke Buda (The Phoenix Foundation), and their two sons.
