Authors

No biography

Mason Ball was born in 1966 and grew up in Gisborne on the farm that would inspire some of New Zealand's most beloved and iconic comic strips. He has worked as a journalist, audio sub-editor and English language teacher. He lives with his wife, Kuniko, and their three children in Wellington, where he enjoys painting, collage and jazz.

No biography

Alison Ballance is a zoologist, writer and broadcaster. In 2017 she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to natural history, filmmaking and broadcasting. In 2008 she began producing and presenting Radio New Zealand's weekly science and environment programme Our Changing World. Before that she spent 18 years producing and directing wildlife documentaries for NHNZ, including the film To Save the Kakapo. She has written 30 books, including 'Hoki: The story of a kakapo' and the biography of conservationist Don Merton. The first edition of 'Kakapo: Rescued from the brink of extinction' drew on her long association with the Kakapo Recovery Programme and won the 2011 Royal Society of New Zealand Science Book Prize. It was revised and republished in 2018.

No biography

Maddie Ballard is a writer and editor of mixed Chinese heritage. Born in Syracuse, New York, she grew up in Aotearoa New Zealand and currently lives in Wellington. She can be found @maddieballard27 on Instagram or at fieldnotesonfeeling.substack.com.

A graduate in horticulture from Massey College in the 1960s, Catherine Ballard has been involved in horticulture, including writing, all her life. In 2006 David Ling published Oswald Blumhardt New Zealand Plant Pioneer, her biography of the internationally recognised plant collector and hybridizer. In 2010 she self-published Stone Wall Country - The Dry Stone Walls of the Whangarei District. In 2015 she published Country Cop 24/7 - The Life and Times of a Rural Cop. She has lived in Northland most of her life, farming and growing plants.

Hydie graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English and History from the University of Auckland. Children's Literature and New Zealand Literature were her favourite classes. She also has a Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Primary). When not working or writing, Hydie loves to spend time with her family and friends and go for walks in nature. Hydie lives in Auckland with her husband and her dog Beau. She has one daughter and a stepson. As a child, Hydie spent a lot of time in the King Country of New Zealand on her aunty and uncle's sheep and beef farm. The days were spent out horseback riding on the farm with her cousin and in the early evenings she would read all the children's books that her aunty had. This was the beginning of Hydie's love for children's literature.

Jane Mahoney founded the Secret Gardens website (secretgardens.co.nz) to create a connected community of gardeners. It's a curated collection of gardens across New Zealand, each with a passionate, knowledgeable gardener who hosts guided visits and workshops in their specialist areas. Jane has been a slightly obsessive gardener for a long time and recently she and her partner have been taming and restoring their one-acre hillside property on Banks Peninsula.Sophie Bannan is Jane's daughter and the other half of Secret Gardens. Sophie is an artist, writer, teacher and a new mum wanting to contribute something productive to the world her daughter will grow up in. Sophie is an allotment holder at Sanctuary Mahi Whenua gardens in Auckland.

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Minnie Baragwanath has always had a love of language and the written word. Before her sight deteriorated during her teenage years as a result of a congenital sight condition, she read widely and always imagined she would become a writer one day. However, this dream became more distant as her sight worsened and her access to the literary world gradually disappeared from view. Despite struggling to see her books, Minnie persevered, majoring in English Literature during her Bachelor of Arts degree in her late teens, and then completing a Bachelor of Communications in her mid-20s. Today, 30 years on and thanks to the advent of new technology, including digital platforms and audio books, the literary world is now, finally, wide open to her. At the time of writing 'Blindingly Obvious' Minnie was living in Auckland New Zealand with her niece Caitlin and wee dog Floyd. However, shortly after her book was published in 2023, Minnie made the decision to move to Whanganui, a small progressive town in the North Island of New Zealand with a vibrant creative community. Minnie consciously made this move so she could continue her writing and also be creative in other fields. 'Blindingly Obvious' is her first book, and she hopes it will not be her last.

No biography