New Zealand Writers

The 'New Zealand Writer Files' represent the most substantial section of the New Zealand Book Council website. The area contains more than three hundred and fifty pages, with a single page devoted to each particular New Zealand writer.

At the heart of the site are 150 author entries reprinted from the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, (Ed. Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie). Follow this link to find out how the Companion entries are presented.

The Book Council is augmenting this resource in two ways: firstly, by adding pages for authors not currently featured in the Companion and, secondly, by updating the Companion entries with details that have appeared since the Companion’s cut-off date.

Many of the Non-Companion entries were written by poet Kate Camp (denoted by the initials KC at the foot of entries). Other entries have been written by Laura Kroetsch (LK) or Kirsten McDougall (KM). These entries are based on information provided by authors and publishers, and on book reviews.

Where entries contain substantial text taken from other sources - publishers' press releases or cover blurbs, for example - this is noted.

Please check back regularly as this is a growing resource and new writers are added regularly. New Zealand writers are asked to read the Information for Writers page.