Authors

Charlotte Macdonald, Professor Emerita at Te Herenga Waka —Victoria University of Wellington, specialises in the modern era, particularly in New Zealand’s history related to empire, colony, women and gender. She has authored numerous award-winning books and articles, served as the president of the New Zealand Historical Association, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi, recently chairing its Academy Executive Committee (2020–2023).

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Finlay Macdonald is a journalist, editor, publisher and broadcaster with over 30 years' experience in the New Zealand media. He was editor of the New Zealand Listener magazine from 1997 to 2004, and later a publisher at Penguin Books and HarperCollins. He has been an award-winning weekly columnist for the Sunday Star-Times and has written and presented for television and radio. He lives in Auckland with his wife, and despite their children now being grown up, can still recite Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy from memory.

Belinda MacDonald grew up on a lifestyle farm in Cambridge, New Zealand. She was inspired from a young age by her mother and father's self-sufficiency - the garden, plantings, foraging, milking the house cow, and spending hours in the kitchen cooking. Belinda appeared on TV's first My Kitchen Rules NZ series in 2014 and co-won the title with her boldly flavoured cooking combinations. She showcased strong in-your-face flavours but also simplicity and fierce healthiness. She realised early on that her gift to her children and the community would be to empower them about the importance of nutrition, wellbeing and eating sustainably and seasonally. Since winning MKR, Belinda has influenced the community with local foodie columns, TV appearances, live cooking demonstrations, keto food vlogging, and she also opened New Zealand's first 'pop-up' organic bone broth bar serving wellness shots, tinctures of healing fire cider, and infused butter bombs.

Tania Mace is a freelance historian with a Master of Arts with honours in history. For more than two decades she has worked in the heritage field, researching and writing histories of buildings and places. Her first book was a history of St James Kindergarten (now known as Grey Lynn Kindergarten), written for the centenary in 2013. She has lived in Grey Lynn for more than 30 years.

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Angus Hikairo Macfarlane (Ngāti Whakaue; Ngāti Rangiwewehi) is Professor (Pouhere) in the Child Well-being Research Institute at the University of Canterbury. In 2021 he was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education, psychology and Māori. Melissa Derby (Ngāti Ranginui) is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Waikato, and co-Director of the Early Years Research Centre. She has received several awards, most recently the Te Kōpūnui Māori Research Award from the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2022. Sonja Macfarlane (Ngāi Tahu; Ngāti Waewae) is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Education at Massey University. In 2021 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi.

Contributors include: Sue Bradford, Huhana Hickey, Callum Katene, Lisa Marriott, Tracey McIntosh, Hana O'Regan, Sarah-Jane Paine, Craig Renney, Bill Rosenberg, Max Rashbrooke, Jin Russell, Miriana Stephens, Nikki Turner. Rebecca Macfie is an acclaimed New Zealand journalist and awardwinning author. In 2024, she was the JD Stout Research Fellow at the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies, Te Herenga Waka- Victoria University of Wellington. Graeme Whimp is a Senior Research Fellow at the Stout Research Centre and Adjunct Research Fellow at the School of Social and Cultural Studies, both at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington. Brigitte Boenisch-Brednich is the is the Director of the Stout Research Centre and Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington.

Rebecca Macfie has been a senior writer for New Zealand Listener, senior writer and deputy editor for Canvas magazine, editor and deputy editor for Unlimited magazine, and has written extensively for Independent Business Weekly and National Business Review. She has nearly 30 years' experience in journalism and has won numerous awards. She is currently writing a biography of Helen Kelly, the first woman to head New Zealand's Council of Trade Unions.

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Lucy Mackintosh is Curator of History at Auckland War Memorial Museum/Tamaki Paenga Hira. She has a PhD in history from the University of Auckland. Previously, she worked as an historian for local and national government and heritage organisations, focusing on Auckland history and historic sites. She has also worked as a heritage consultant in the US and published research on American traders who visited Aotearoa New Zealand in the early nineteenth century.