Margaret Mahy was a New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. Many of her story plots have strong supernatural elements but her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up. She wrote more than 100 picture books, 40 novels and 20 collections of short stories. At her death she was one of thirty writers to win the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for her "lasting contribution to children's literature".
Cassia Joy Cowley is a New Zealand author best known for her children's fiction, including the popular series of books Mrs. Wishy-Washy.
Anika Rose Moa is a New Zealand recording artist and television presenter. Her debut studio album Thinking Room, was released in September 2001, which reached number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart and provided two Top 5 singles, "Youthful" (2001) and "Falling in Love Again" (2002). Moa competed at the Rockquest songwriting contest in 1998, which led to a recording contract. She is the subject of two documentaries by film-maker Justin Pemberton: 3 Chords and the Truth: the Anika Moa Story (2003), detailing her signing to a record label and the release of Thinking Room, and In Bed with Anika Moa (2010) on her later career.
Amanda Hager is a writer of fiction and non-fiction for children, young adults and adults. Many of her books have been shortlisted for or won awards, including Singing Home the Whale which won both the Young Adult fiction category and the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2015. She has been the recipient of several fellowships, residencies and prizes, including the Beatson Fellowship in 2012, the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship in 2014, the Waikato University Writer in Residence in 2015 and the Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award in 2019.
Antonia Mary Prebble is a New Zealand actress, best known for her role as Loretta West in the hit NZ comedy-drama Outrageous Fortune, as Trudy in The Tribe, as Jane in The Blue Rose, and as Rita West, the grandmother of her character in Outrageous Fortune, on the prequel series Westside. Internationally she's best known for her role as Clare Langtree, the Gatekeeper in the 2006 series Power Rangers Mystic Force.
Elizabeth Fiona Knox is a New Zealand writer. She has authored several novels for both adults and teenagers, autobiographical novellas, and a collection of essays. One of her best-known works is The Vintner's Luck (1998), which won several awards, has been published in ten languages, and was made into a film of the same name by Niki Caro in 2009. Knox is also known for her young adult literary fantasy series, Dreamhunter Duet. Her most recent novels are Mortal Fire and Wake, both published in 2013, and The Absolute Book, published in 2019.
Lloyd David Jones is a New Zealand author. His novel Mister Pip (2006) won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
David Hill is a New Zealand author, especially well known for his young adult fiction. His young fiction books See Ya, Simon (1992) and Right Where It Hurts (2001) have been shortlisted for numerous awards. He is also a prolific journalist, writing many articles for The New Zealand Herald.
The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are a series of literary awards presented annually to recognise excellence in children's and young adult's literature in New Zealand. The awards were founded in 1982, and have had several title changes until the present title was introduced in 2015. In 2016 the awards were merged with the LIANZA children's book awards. As of 2023 the awards are administered by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust and each category award carries prize money of NZ$7,500.
Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement is a New Zealand literary award established in 2003 by the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa, the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government. Each winner in three categories of fiction, nonfiction and poetry receives a monetary award of NZ$60,000.
Dean O'Brien, known by his stage name Mr Yipadee or Deano Yipadee, is a children's author, musician, and producer, who has performed in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Sasha Alexander Gilbert is a Russian-born New Zealand adoption advocate, writer and media presenter, and is the founder of the organisation I'm Adopted which he established in 2015.
Bridget Williams Books is a New Zealand book publisher, established in 1990 by Bridget Williams.
Gavin John Bishop is an author and illustrator, from Invercargill, New Zealand. He is known for illustrating books from prominent New Zealand authors, including Joy Cowley and Margaret Mahy. Bishop's first published picture book was Mrs McGinty and the Bizarre Plant, published in 1981 by Oxford University Press.
Gecko Press is an independent publisher of children's books based in Wellington, New Zealand. The company was founded in 2005 by Julia Marshall, formerly of Appelberg Publishing Agency, winner of the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal 2021.
Kyle Mewburn is an Australian-New Zealand writer whose books have won many prizes and awards. She lives in Millers Flat, Central Otago, writes picture books and junior fiction and is a popular and well-known speaker at schools and literary festivals.
Robyn Belton is an illustrator of children's books. Her work, often focusing on themes of war and peace, has won many prizes, including the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 1997 Picture Book Winner and Book of the Year, and the Russell Clark Award in 1985 and 2009. She herself has been recognised with the prestigious Storylines Margaret Mahy Award and the inaugural Ignition Children's Book Festival Award. She lives in Otago, New Zealand.
Toby Morris is a New Zealand cartoonist, comics artist, illustrator and writer, best known for non-fiction online comics that often highlight social issues.
Mākaro Press is a New Zealand publisher based in Wellington. It was founded in 2013 and has published several award-winning books including Auē by Becky Manawatu.
Justin Brown, also known as Justin Christopher, is a New Zealand best-selling author, television producer, music writer, podcast host and former radio presenter. He is best known for his works in non-fiction, humour, travel and children's fiction.
