Authors

Heather McQuillan used to be a teacher who wrote. Now she’s a writer who teaches. If she’s not writing in the room at the top of a spiral staircase, Heather can be found at Write On School for Young Writers in Christchurch, where she is a tutor and director. This is her fourth novel for young people. Heather loves being close to the ocean and hearing the waves but, on a still night, she is often disturbed by the thrumm thrumm thrumm of ships waiting outside the harbour.

Ron McQuilter is a career investigator, brought up in the "hard" part of Glasgow. He joined the Glasgow Police aged 19 and was posted to the Gorbals, famous for its high crime rate. He fell in love with a Kiwi girl and immigrated to New Zealand in 1983 where he became a private investigator. Now the country's most prominent PI, he features regularly on television and is the go to man for media comment.    Ron is the founder of and still heads up Paragon, New Zealand's largest PI firm, with a team of agents and several national contracts. Ron has featured as one of the Missing Pieces team on TV3, specialising in tracking down lost family members. In 2008 he travelled solely to London and managed to solve a 6 year old cold case involving a missing New Zealand man.  

No biography

Jacquie McRae (Tainui) has a Master of Creative Writing with Honours and received a Michael King Māori Writers residency in 2018. She had previously completed Te Papa Tupu mentoring programme where she worked on her first novel, a young adult fiction, The Scent of Apples, which received a Gold in the IPPY Awards 2012 and was selected for the White Ravens list of outstanding international books for children and young adults in the same year.

Mike McRoberts (Ngati Kahungunu ki te Wairoa) is one of New Zealand's most respected journalists and broadcasters, with an award-winning career spanning four decades. After anchoring Newshub's 6pm bulletin for 20 years and reporting from conflict zones and natural disasters worldwide, Mike embarked on a deeply personal journey into Te Reo Maori and Te Ao Maori - captured in his acclaimed documentary, Kia Ora, Good Evening. Mike is now Te Ao Maori Editor at the National Business Review (NBR).

No biography

Trish McBride spent more than 25 years as a lay chaplain in workplaces, a hospice and a mental health context, and is a retired counsellor and spiritual director. Formal studies included an MA (Hons) in Classics, Diploma in Pastoral Ministry, and recognition as an Associate in Christian Ministry (interdenominational). Her articles and academic papers have appeared in several periodicals in Aotearoa NZ and elsewhere. She was awarded third prize in The (London) Tablet’s international John Harriott religious journalism competition in 1993, and contributed chapters to five Catholic-based New Zealand theology books by Accent Publications between 2008 and 2016. These writings have been gathered and supplemented to be the basis of what has now become an accidental trilogy, recording her spiritual journey for most of the last 70 years. Faith Evolving (2005) covered 30 years from the 1970s. Exploring the Presence went backwards, forwards and very widely. And now A Love Quilt covers the last decade. She is passionate about Social Justice, the well-being and stories of women and other marginalised people. She enjoys family, nurturing her friendships, reading, swimming, and walking, as well making quilts, three of which have appeared on the covers of her books.

No biography

Danyl McLauchlan studied biology and computer science at Victoria University of Wellington, and worked and travelled in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia before he returned to Wellington, where he works at the VUW School of Biology. He is the author of the comic noir novels Unspeakable Secrets of the Aro Valley (VUP, 2013) and Mysterious Mysteries of the Aro Valley (VUP, 2016). His essays on literature, politics, economics, science, and philosophy appear on The Spinoff.

Danyl McLauchlan

Silva Mcleod was born on the small Tongan island of Vava‘u. With the encouragement of Ken, her Australian husband, she trained to become the first Tongan female airline pilot, working for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and eventually flying B777 jets around the world.

No biography