Authors

No biography

Born in 1968 in Northfield, Minnesota, Stephanie Blake settled in Paris and began writing for children. She is best known for her series about the (super)rabbit Simon, published worldwide and adapted as an animated TV series, and is the author and illustrator of 40 books, many of them children’s favorites.Stephanie Blake’s passion for writing and illustrating began in childhood when she created books for her brothers and sisters as birthday presents. As a child, she also fell in love with the books of Dr. Seuss, Ludwig Bemelmans, and William Steig. After moving to France, she discovered other writers and artists whose work continued to inspire her stories and drawings. She is the author and illustrator of dozens of highly successful books in France, many of them children’s favorites.

Peter Bland was born in Yorkshire in 1934 and emigrated to New Zealand twenty years later, for many years dividing his time between the two countries. He was associated with the Wellington group of poets which included James K Baxter and Louis Johnson, and is now a much-loved part of the Auckland poetry scene. Bland has written plays, poems, children's books and a memoir, and is the recipient of numerous awards for his poetry including the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Excellence.

No biography

Alexander Blok was the last major poet of Russia's Silver Age. The last of a long line of distinguished radicals, he was the grandson of the botanist Beketov, Rector of St Petersburg University, and son-in-law of the famous Russian chemist Mendeleyev. His first collection of poetry, "Stikhi o prekrasnoy dame" ("Verses about a beautiful lady"), dedicated to his wife, was published in 1905 and gained him almost instant renown amongst the poets of his generation. By the 1910s he was being hailed as the heir to Pushkin. His poetry in effect spanned the twelve years of disillusion after the deadly fiasco of the failed revolution of 1905. His heavy workload for various state departments and his increasing disillusion with the Revolution - he was briefly arrested and interrogated by the Petrograd Cheka in 1919 - had an increasingly deleterious effect on his health, as did the debilitating poverty he and his family found themselves in. He suffered from asthma and heart trouble, as well as chronic depression that prevented him from writing. He wrote his last major work in January 1918. At his final public appearance, a lecture to commemorate the anniversary of Pushkin's birth in February 1921, he expressed his conviction that "the poet dies, because he cannot breathe." Despite the support of Maxim Gorky and Anatoly Lunacharsky, his doctors' requests to allow Blok to leave the country for treatment were denied until it was too late, and he died on 7 August 1921. Russian-born New Zealander Natasha Templeton gained her Masters in Russian literature at Columbia University under the great Rufus Mathewson. She went on to lecture and review in the fields of Russian language, literature history and with a particular focus on Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov, and on Russian poetry. She has published two novels: Firebird (1995) and Winter in the Summer Garden (1999). She lives in Wellington. Alan Roddick has published two books of poetry, The Eye Corrects (1967) and Getting It Right (2016). As literary executor for Charles Brasch, who died in 1973, he has published three collections of Brasch's poetry, most recently his Selected Poems (2015). He has also written extensively on the poetry of Allen Curnow. A retired public health dentist, he lives in Dunedin.

No biography

No biography

Anna Bloomfield is a lawyer and mother of three who lives with her family in Wellington, New Zealand. This is her first book, but it may not be her last. At the time of writing she was on parental leave from her job in the public sector. To her knowledge she is not related to New Zealand's Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield.

John Bluck is a writer and broadcaster with a lifetime of working on bicultural issues. His earlier books include Wai Karekare: turbulent waters, Hidden Country: Having faith in Aotearoa, Killing us Softly: Challenging the Kiwi culture of complaint and Seeking the Centre: living well in Aotearoa. A retired Anglican bishop, and Dean of Christchurch Cathedral before it fell down, he has worked ecumenically all round New Zealand and overseas, serving as Communication Director for the World Council of Churches in Geneva. He lives with his wife Liz in Pakiri, north of Auckland, where he writes, gardens, tries to catch fish and play the trumpet.

Lulu Walters is a New Zealand author who creates entertaining, rhyming stories of mystery and delight for children. Nature always inspires her work. Having worked in New Zealand and London, Lulu has travelled to East Africa, Australasia, the United States and Europe. Often spellbound by our beautiful world, animals and people, Lulu aims to provide inspiration, joy and hope for a brighter future.

Sally Blundell, a journalist and writer in Christchurch, has a PhD in English literature from the University of Canterbury. She has been books and culture editor for the New Zealand Listener and was a fiction judge for the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Her essay contributions include 'Not Listening: Changing Conversations in the Wake of the Mosque Shootings' (Public Knowledge, ed. Emma Johnson, 2019) and 'Reoccupying Christchurch' (Extraordinary Anywhere, ed. Ingrid Horrocks and Cherie Lacey, 2016).