Authors

Yvonne Morrison Author of A Kiwi Night Before Christmas this is Yvonne's second title for Scholastic. With a strong educational link Yvonne is a real find for our picture book publishing list. Jenny Cooper Illustrator of Duck Walk, Goodbye, Adios, Sayonara and Ciao, as well as the junior novel, Jellylegs, Jenny's images have charm and verve.

Professor Scotty Morrison (Ngati Whakaue) is the well-known presenter of current affairs programmes Te Karere and Marae. He holds a Master's degree (Education), is working towards his PhD, and has been an Adjunct Professor and the Director of Maori Student and Community Engagement at Auckland's Unitec Institute of Technology. In 2017, he was appointed to a new role at Massey University's Te Putahi-a-Toi (School of Maori Art, Knowledge and Education), working alongside his wife Stacey in a strategic, advocacy and lecturing capacity. Scotty is the author of the bestselling language guides Maori Made Easy (winner of the 2016 Nga Kupu Ora Maori Book Award - Te Reo Maori), Maori Made Easy 2, The Raupo Phrasebook of Modern Maori, Maori at Work and Maori at Home, which was co-authored with Stacey. In 2019, Scotty was awarded the inaugural Te Tohu Korurenga Hau Culture Change award by Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori, The Maori Language Commission, for his leadership and innovation as a teacher of te reo Maori. Scotty lives in Auckland with Stacey and their three children, Hawaiki, Kurawaka and Maiana.

About the author- Stacey Morrison (Ngai Tahu, Te Arawa) is a radio and TV broadcaster whose projects have spanned 25 years. She is the co-host of the Drive show on The Hits, having previously worked on Mai FM and Flava, and her most recent TV credit was Whanau Living, which included the whole Morrison family on screen, offering lifestyle ideas and projects, all while speaking te reo Maori. Stacey's love of language learning, and desire to understand her heritage language, started as an AFS student in Japan. In 2016, she won Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori Champion Award for te reo Maori. She lives in Auckland with her husband Scotty and their three children, who are proud to speak Maori as their first language. About the illustrators- Ali Teo and John O'Reilly are freelance New Zealand illustrators and designers who have collaborated on several award-winning children's books, including Tahi - One Lucky Kiwi (with Melanie Drewery), Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck! and Melu (both with Kyle Mewburn). They live in Tauranga with their son Tiger.

Derek Morrison is an award-winning visual storyteller primarily working in photography, filmmaking, and writing. In 2018 Derek won the New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year award for his work documenting the wildlife, ocean, and coastline for his ongoing Box of Light beach-culture project. Along with his longitudinal coastal studies, which his wife suspects is an excuse to spend more time in the ocean, he completes assignments for various magazines and book publishers. He’s fascinated by society, culture and its fitment into the natural world. He’s passionate about the environment and believes visual communication can help to achieve positive and long-lasting change to human and societal behaviour. Derek has published five books, including four with Penguin Random House, and he has contributed to many international books throughout his 30-year career. New Zealand’s Best Gourmet Pies is his upcoming book that began its life around a campfire on the West Coast. It tells the story of New Zealand’s love for pies. Derek is extremely grateful to live a life exploring his passions … yes, even pies.

DIANA MORROW is an historian and editor living in Auckland. She has co-authored several local histories, including Urban Village: The Story of Ponsonby, Freeman's Bay and St. Mary's Bay (2008), and a general history of New Zealand, Changing Times: New Zealand since 1945 (2013). She also coedited and contributed to City of Enterprise: A history of Auckland business (2006) and Jewish Lives in New Zealand (2011).

In spite of ambitions to be a Music Composer/Quantum physicist/Geneticist/Knower of Everything Knowable, Pamela Morrow (Ngati Pu) is a part-time Visual Effects Artist and part-time writer. She began tertiary education in New Zealand in the eighties, starting a degree in Horticultural Science at Massey University, but ended up with a BA in Music and Media Studies from La Trobe University and a Masters in Film, TV and Media Studies from the University of Auckland, where she also took a scriptwriting paper. Hello Strange is her first publication.

No biography

Elizabeth Morton grew up in suburban Auckland. Her poetry and prose have been published in New Zealand, the UK, the USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia and online. She holds an MLitt in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow. Morton has accrued many literary acknowledgements for her work, and her previous collection of poetry, This is Your Real Name (OUP, 2020), was longlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry in the 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. The manuscript of Naming the Beasts was shortlisted for the 2021 Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award.

No biography

Holly Moss, born in Yorkshire, UK in 1973. Moved to NZ in year 2000. BSc from Aston University, UK, 1992 Diploma in Nutrition 2012, Wellpark College, Grey Lynn (Award for top nutrition student) Diploma in Yoga 2014, Wellpark College, Grey Lynn Owner of nutrition clinic "The Food Pharmacy" www.thefoodpharmacy.co.nz in Devonport, Auckland Teaches chair yoga to seniors in retirement villages, community halls and private homes and spent many years teaching at AUT and at the MS Society. Has specialized in senior health for the past 8 years.

No biography