Author Interview

I whakaaroarohia te Pukapuka Ngake Me Whātaitai

Nau mai ki Te Wiki o te Reo Māori! Koinei tā mātou pūrongo tuatahi mō tēnei wiki whai tikanga. Nā Zeb Nicklin i patapatai ki Ben Ngaia, te kaituhi a Ngake me Whātaitai. He pukapuka pikitia me pūrākau tēnei kōrero,…

An Interview with Swapna Haddow

Swapna Haddow has serious chops when it comes to comedic writing for children, and this time she’s moved from pigeons and bunnies, to pandas. Bad Panda hits the spot for Pearl DSilva and her two kids, as she prepared to…

Book Awards: The Best First Book Finalists

One of our favourite bits of the lead up to the NZCYA Awards each year is getting the finalists in one of the categories to interview one another—and this year is no different. Each of the finalists in the Best…

The Mahy Questionnaire: Leonie Agnew

Award winning writer Leonie Agnew is next up for our Mahy questionnaire. Her latest book The Memory Thief is out this month but it hasn’t stopped her finding the time to answer our questions! Read on, tricksters… 1. Describe yourself…

Book Awards: Young Adult Finalists

There are some cracking YA reads in the NZCYA finalists this year; there’s realness, drama, history, fantasy and just some downright good storytelling. We love hearing about the process, characters and inspiration, so we have asked our finalists some probing…

Across the Ditch: Rebecca Lim

Rebecca Lim is an Australian writer, illustrator and editor and the author of over twenty books, including The Astrologer’s Daughter (A Kirkus Best Book of 2015 and CBCA Notable Book for Older Readers), Afterlight and Wraith. Her work has been…

Co-interview: Joanna Grochowicz & Cristina Sanders

We thought it was high time for the return of our author co-interview—and look at the pair we managed to bring together! Joanna Grochowicz had quickly become a favourite among readers of non-fiction, with her fascinating (and award-winning) dives into…

Is this the perfect time for a pandemic story?

Discussion of self isolation and social distancing and mask wearing may all feel very 2020s – but for those not in the know, two titles from Aotearoa sitting on shelves with shiny new covers are not, in fact, products of…

Musicians Make Amazing Picture Books

Many of our wonderful picture book writers are both musicians and writers. Diana Neild, writer of Daddy Monster A-B-C and the Piggity-Wiggity series (if you don’t know these, look them up!) and June Pitman-Hayes, writer of Kia ora! You can…