Lloyd Spencer Davis (born 1954) is a New Zealand-based author, filmmaker, scientist and science communicator. [1] Born in Napier in 1954, he is known particularly for his creative nonfiction writing about science and nature subjects. [2] He has published ten books and been co-editor of another two, [3] as well as authoring over 150 scientific papers. [4]
Davis's first book Penguin: a season in the life of the Adélie penguin (published by Pavilion Books, London, 1993, and Harcourt Brace, San Diego, 1994) provides a penguin's-eye view of life in Antarctica. [5] It received the 1994 PEN (NZ) Best First Book Award for Nonfiction. The Plight of the Penguin (published by Longacre Press, Dunedin, 2001) won the New Zealand Post New Zealand Children's Book of the Year Award in 2002, the first time a nonfiction book had won the award, [6] as well as winning the New Zealand Post New Zealand Children's Best Nonfiction Book Award. His book, Looking for Darwin (published by Longacre Press, Dunedin, 2007) is part travelogue, part personal memoir, and part essay about Charles Darwin. It earned him the Copyright Licensing (CLL) Writer's Award for Nonfiction, [7] New Zealand's premier award for the support of nonfiction, as well as the Runner's Up Award as the New Zealand Travel Book of the Year in 2008. [8] A Polar Affair: Antarctica’s Forgotten Hero and the Secret Love Lives of Penguins [9] (published by Pegasus Books, New York, 2019) investigates the life of polar explorer Dr Murray Levick and the sexual behavior of penguins. It was named by Science News as one of their Favorite Science Books for 2019. [10]
Davis has been a documentary filmmaker for since the early 1980s. The first film directed by him, Eating Like A Gannet, was made in association with the Television New Zealand Natural History Unit [11] and Ecology Division, DSIR (1986). [12] Screened in over 100 countries, it documented the change in the world's only mainland colony of gannets at Cape Kidnappers, New Zealand. Meet the Real Penguins, was directed by him as a co-production between NHNZ [13] and WNET. In the USA it was entitled The World of Penguins, where it screened on PBS in 1997. [14] It won twelve international awards, including the Abu Prize for Best Documentary at the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, Hong Kong, and the Special Prize of the Jury at the 1st International Science Film Festival, Budapest, Hungary. [15] More recently, his documentary, The Guardian of Kinabalu, co-produced and co-directed with Wiebke Finkler, won the Special Jury Prize at the 11th Kuala Lumpur Environmental Film Festival in 2018. [16] In 2001, he established the world's first university-based course in Natural History Filmmaking at the University of Otago in association with NHNZ. [17]
Davis has a PhD in Zoology from the University of Alberta, Canada. His research has primarily concentrated on understanding the behavior of animals from an evolutionary perspective, especially the behavioral ecology of penguins [18] [19] and seals. More recently, the focus of his research has shifted to aspects of the communication of science and the newly emerging field of science diplomacy. His awards include a Fulbright Award, a Prince and Princess of Wales Scientific Award, and an Anzac Fellowship. He co-founded the International Conference on Penguins, which is held every three years, organizing the first one in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1988. [20]
In 2007, Davis was appointed as the inaugural Stuart Professor of Science Communication at the University of Otago in Dunedin. A year later, he established New Zealand's first university centre devoted to the teaching and research of science communication, [21] being the Director of the University of Otago's Centre for Science Communication from February 2008 to October 2017. He is a Life Member of the Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) Network [22] and its current Vice President. [23]
The University of Otago is a public research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in Oceania.
The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards, which ran from 1968 to 1995.
Brian Lindsay Turner is a New Zealand poet and author. He played hockey for New Zealand in the 1960s; senior cricket in Dunedin and Wellington; and was a veteran road cyclist of note. His mountaineering experience includes an ascent of a number of major peaks including Aoraki / Mount Cook.
John Z. Robinson is a New Zealand painter, printmaker, and jeweller. He has lived in Dunedin, New Zealand since 1978.
NHNZ Worldwide is a New Zealand-based television production house.
Longacre Press was a publisher based in Dunedin, New Zealand. The company was founded in 1995 by Barbara Larson, Paula Boock, and Lynsey Ferrari, three former workers at Dunedin's McIndoe Publishing. The company was originally located at Dowling Street, close to the city's Exchange Neighbourhood, but later moved to Moray Place in the city centre.
Vanda Symon is a crime writer and radio host from Dunedin, New Zealand, and the Chair of the Otago Southland Branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors. Three of her novels have been shortlisted for New Zealand's annual Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel.
Massimiano Bucchi is an Italian sociologist, writer, and professor of science and technology in society at the University of Trento (Italy). His works are in the area of science in society, science communication and the social implications of technologies and innovation.
David Charles Cull was the mayor of the city of Dunedin in New Zealand. He became the 57th Mayor of Dunedin in October 2010 and was re-elected in both the 2013 mayoralty race and 2016 mayoral election. Before politics, he was a presenter for Television New Zealand and an author.
DNTV2 was a television station in Dunedin, New Zealand established by the then New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation in 1962. Its base, and studio complex operated from the historic Garrison Hall in Dowling Street. Until 2010 Garrison Hall was occupied by NHNZ which has since moved to a larger facility in Melville Street. Garrison Hall remains a television production hub to this day, it is now home to Animation Research, Taylormade Media, The Video Factory and Kahawai Productions.
David Eggleton is a New Zealand poet, critic and writer. Eggleton has been awarded the Ockham New Zealand Book Award for poetry and in 2019 was appointed New Zealand Poet Laureate, a title he held until 2022. Eggleton's work has appeared in a multitude of publications in New Zealand and he has released over 18 poetry books (1986–2001) with a variety of publishers, including Penguin.
Paula Boock is a New Zealand writer and editor.
Sue Wootton is a New Zealand writer, specialising in poetry and short fiction.
Emma Neale is a novelist and poet from New Zealand.
Barbara Helen Else, also known as Barbara Neale, is a New Zealand writer, editor, and playwright. She has written novels for adults and children, plays, short stories and articles and has edited anthologies of children's stories. She has received a number of awards and fellowships including the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature, the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal and the Victoria University of Wellington's Writer's Fellowship.
James Samuel Norcliffe is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer, poet, editor, teacher and educator. His work has been widely published and he has been the recipient of a number of writing residencies. Several of his books have been shortlisted for or won awards, including The Loblolly Boy which won the New Zealand Post Junior Fiction Award in 2010. He lives at Church Bay, Lyttelton Harbour, New Zealand.
John Millen Lasenby, commonly known as Jack Lasenby, was a New Zealand writer. He wrote over 30 books for children and young adults, many of which were shortlisted for or won prizes. He was also the recipient of numerous awards including the Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award in 2003 and the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement for Fiction in 2014.
Joanna Orwin is a New Zealand writer of fiction and non-fiction for adults and children. Several of her books have been shortlisted for or have won awards, including Children's Book of the Year in 1985 and the Senior Fiction category of the New Zealand Post Book awards for Children and Young Adults in 2002. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Sandy McKay is a New Zealand children's writer, freelance author and adult literacy tutor. Several of her books have been shortlisted for or have won awards, including Recycled, which won the Junior Fiction section of the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2002. She lives in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Siobhan Harvey is a New Zealand author, editor and creative writing lecturer. She writes poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction. In 2021, she was awarded the Janet Frame Literary Trust Award for Poetry.
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