Authors

Angela is a second-generation New Zealander of Italian heritage. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand. Her life hasn't been perfect. She's walked through difficult seasons - some painful, some unexpected, and some she knows God would never have chosen for her. For many years Angela tried doing life her own way, being fully self-reliant. But through every high and low, one truth has become unshakable: that with God you can get through anything. Rather than her own efforts, it has been the love of God, and His grace and mercy, that have sustained her.

No biography

Abbas Nazari fled the Taliban in Afghanistan as a child, and was rescued by the Tampa container ship in 2001. Abbas and his family settled in New Zealand, and in 2019 he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the United States. Abbas’ best-selling memoir, After the Tampa: From Afghanistan to New Zealand, was published by Allen & Unwin in 2021.

Ndoyiya, who is known across the world as former president Nelson Mandela's personal and family chef, grew up in Ezibeleni township in Komani. Hers was a typical black household upbringing. She is the fourth of five children, with three older brothers, and working-class parents. "As the eldest daughter, you end up almost becoming like a Deputy Mother; and at home, we were a bit old school, so some chores were reserved for the girls," she says. Ndoyiya became increasingly comfortable in the kitchen, deriving a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction each time a plate she cooked was returned empty. She gradually improved her cooking skills through, among others, attending a Jewish culinary school sponsored by her then employers. Her first job as a chef was at the Coronation Hotel, in Johannesburg. She was introduced to Mandela by a friend. After a rather puzzling experience where she was unwittingly subjected to an interview-cum-security-check, she met Tat' uMandela. This was to be the beginning of at least two decades of preparing meals for one of the most revered leaders of the 20th century.  

Tom Neale was born in Wellington, New Zealand, but his family soon moved to Greymouth, where his father became paymaster for the state coal mines. Eventually the family settled in Timaru. At 18 Tom signed on as an apprentice engineer in the New Zealand Navy, where he spent four years before buying himself out in order to wander among the South Pacific islands, clearing bush, fishing and preparing copra. He later settled on Moorea, where he learned to speak Taihitian. In 1943 he accepted a job as store-keeper in the Cook Islands, and from there he sailed to Suwarrow.

Emma Neale is a poet and prose writer, whose first novel Night Swimming was published in 1998, followed by her first collection of poetry Sleeve Notes in 1999. Her writing has been featured extensively in journals and anthologies, and in 2000 Neale won the Todd New Writers’ Bursary. Neale’s novel Little Moon (2001) was described by John McCrystal as, ‘flawlessly written, deploying a wealth of descriptive imagery’. Neale won first place in the 2008 Takahe Poetry Competition with her poem 'Well', and was the inaugural recipient of the NZSA Janet Frame Memorial Award for Literature in 2008. Emma Neale won the 2011 Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry and she was the 2012 Robert Burns Fellow at The University of Otago. She also held the 2014 Sir James Wallace Trust/University of Otago Pah Homestead residency. Her book Billy Bird (Penguin Random House 2016) has received excellent reviews and was shortlisted for the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Bio and photo courtesy of Read NZ.

Ned Barraud is a Nelson-based illustrator and writer. He has illustrated or co-authored over twenty non-fiction books that introduce children to the natural world around them and encourage them to explore it.

No biography

Eleanor Neil is a first-time author; Shoe Trouble will be her debut children's book. Lisa Allen is a freelance illustrator and designer based in Muriwai on Auckland's west coast. Her work is based mostly in children's book illustration and design. Lisa is a member of the NZSA & SCWBI. She is also volunteer as a role model for Duffy Books in Homes.    

No biography

No biography