Authors

John Summers is the author of The Mermaid Boy, a collection of non-fiction stories published in 2015 by Hue & Cry Press. His work has appeared in many publications, including The Spinoff, North and South, Landfall, Newsroom, and Sport. He was a finalist in the 2019 Voyager Media Awards and won the nonfiction category in the 2016 Sunday Star-Times Short Story Competition. He lives in Wellington with his family.

Barbara Sumner has had a long career in film and television and a journalist. She now runs the film production company Cloud South Pictures with her husband, Tom Burstyn. She has produced three feature documentaries, a number of television commercials and instructional films. In 2009 This Way of Life, their documentary movie about a family living simply in the Ruahine Ranges, won awards at film festivals around the world. In 2020 she is enrolled at the IML at Victoria University. She lives in Napier.

Alexander Sunday, the creator of Ariam and the Magic Toothies, has always had a deep-seated love for writing and storytelling. Since his early years, he has envisioned creating something heartwarming to touch the lives of children who read his work. However, it wasn't until he stumbled upon a drawing of his daughter with her first tooth that he felt truly inspired; seeing his daughter's tooth sketch sitting in the memory box for almost two decades ignited his desire to bring the enchanting world of Ariam and the Magic Toothies to life. The author has been brewing this captivating adventure in his creative mind for a long time. Writing this has been a wonderful and therapeutic experience for him. Finally, the time has come to share it with the world, and he couldn't be more excited about it. Alexander Sunday is married to his high school sweetheart, and they have three beautiful daughters and a golden retriever named TokTok. They live in Wellington, New Zealand.

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Kelly Wilson (Author) Kelly Wilson is the bestselling author of six autobiographical non-fiction books- For the Love of Horses, Stallion Challenges, Mustang Ride, Saving the Snowy Brumbies, Taming the Wild and Wild Horses of the World, a children's picture book Ranger the Kaimanawa Stallion and the junior chapter book series Showtym Adventures. She also co-authored a middle-grade novel, Showtym Viking, with her sister Amanda. With her sisters Vicki and Amanda, Kelly starred in the hit-rating TV series, Keeping Up with the Kaimanawas, following their work taming New Zealand's wild Kaimanawa horses, and has travelled around the globe to document, rescue and tame wild horses. Nina Sutherland (Author) Nina Sutherland grew up in Northland, New Zealand, and learned to ride at a young age. When she was ten years old she had her first taste of working with wild ponies, helping bestselling author and horsewoman Kelly Wilson to train a wild mare, Shyla, for the Australian Brumby Challenge. Two years later Nina participated in Kelly Wilson's Wild Kaimanawa Workshop, adopting and training a wild colt named Thunder, and also trained Allegiance, a wild seven-year-old stallion. She competed both ponies in the 2018 Kaimanawa Freedom to Friendship Challenge with top results. With Kelly Wilson she has co-written a series of novels for children that were inspired by these life-changing experiences. She lives in New Zealand's Hawke's Bay, where she works for Vicki Wilson's stables as a fulltime equestrian.

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Oliver Sutherland is a retired scientist who studied at the University of Canterbury, then at Cambridge University and the University of California (Berkeley). He joined the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research in Nelson in 1969, remaining with the department and then Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research until 2003. On returning from study overseas he joined the Nelson Maori Committee, established the Nelson Race Relations Action Group and, in 1973, the Auckland Committee on Racism and Discrimination. In the mid-1980s Oliver led a challenge to the mono-culturalism of the science sector and helped conceive and frame the Native Flora and Fauna Claim to the Waitangi Tribunal (Wai 262).

Eve Sutton (Author) Eve Sutton was born and raised in England and moved to New Zealand as an adult. She worked as a primary school teacher and as a Braille transcriber before writing her critically acclaimed children's books. Of these, My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes was the only picture book, and a celebrated partnership with her cousin by marriage, Lynley Dodd. First published in 1974, My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes won the Esther Glen Award in 1975. Lynley Dodd (Illustrator) Lynley Dodd graduated from the Elam School of Art in Auckland with a diploma in Fine Arts, majoring in sculpture. She went on to teach art before taking a break to start a family. She began to work as a freelance illustrator and collaborated with author Eve Sutton on My Cat Likes To Hide in Boxes. There was no looking back as Lynley went on to write and illustrate her own books for children. Exuberant artwork and bouncy rhymes come together perfectly in books like Slinky Malinki and Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy. As well as being a visual delight, these are some of the most rewarding books for children and adults to read out loud. It comes as no surprise that, as a child, she adored Dr Seuss because of his 'crazy sounds and the fact that he took such liberties with the English language.' Other favourite authors included A A Milne and the fairy tales of The Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Andersen. Today, Lynley is a big fan of Quentin Blake 'because of his humour and very clever art work.'