Authors

Sitting in class late morning in 1974, on hearing a poem by the German poet & novelist Herman Hesse Peter Le Baige felt himself, in his own words, 'infused with a fermented light', and knew his future life would take him crashingly through foreign tongues and language forms and along the madly overgrown paths of poetry, wherever else it led him. Writing and performing poetry since the first session of the legendary 'Poetry Live' weekly poetry readings at the Globe Tavern in Auckland in 1980, his first two collections of poems, 'Breakers', 1979, and 'Street hung with daylit moon', 1986, are now succeeded by his 2023 collection, 'Blackbird in paradise', drawn from pieces written over the past 37 years. He remains lost in the garden still.

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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 how food can be rich and indulgent but also fiercely healthy at the same time. From there she became co-author of her first cookbook My Green Kitchen with Neena Truscott. 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. Recently she has become a creative culinary consultant for 5 different food establishments, where her passion for sharing is assisting hospitality teams with their seasonal menu designs giving them the 'flavourbomb' treatment, all while supporting local growers and producers.

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Juliette MacIver is a picture-book writer and mother of four, who lives in Wellington, New Zealand. Juliette majored in Linguistics at Victoria University, Wellington, and has a diploma in teaching English. Her popular books are regularly shortlisted for awards.Sarah Davis is a leading illustrator living in Sydney, Australia, with a wide portfolio of award-winning books. She has won and been shortlisted for numerous awards in Australia and New Zealand.

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Maree MacLean began her career as a business writer at Television New Zealand during the dot.com boom. Her work-hard, play-even-harder lifestyle led to burnout, so she flew the coup, landing in Hong Kong during its first outbreak of SARS. Maree hightailed it across the border into Canton and fell in love with life in China where she remained for five and a half years. More than twenty countries visited, and one Danish husband later, Maree returned to New Zealand, speaking Mandarin and Danish, which didn't get her very far at all! Determined to address her drinking problem, Maree moved to Waiheke Island and finally knocked the booze on the head. You'll find Maree is happiest in or on the water, crewing on sailboats, especially if they are racing. When she is not working for her local medical centres, Maree writes a hilarious monthly newsletter called unf*ck yourself. Maree lives with her best friend Jimbo and his two black cats, Grace and Hope.

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