Authors

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Julie V'lk is a celebrated illustrator from Vienna, Austria, who studied at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg and has illustrated many award-winning picture books. In 2018, she was named an IBBY Honored Illustrator. Julie V�lk is a celebrated illustrator from Vienna, Austria, who studied at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg and has illustrated many award-winning picture books. In 2018, she was named an IBBY Honored Illustrator.

Linda Va'aelua is of Samoan and Scottish heritage and grew up in West Auckland, New Zealand. She graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Design (Visual Communications) from Unitec. With more than 20 years' experience as a graphic designer, she was the first Pasifika art director for the New Zealand Woman's Weekly and has worked on other publications, including the New Zealand Listener. More recently, Linda designed the award-winning book NUKU: Stories of 100 Indigenous Women (finalist Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2022, finalist PANZ Book Design Awards 2022). In 2021, she launched her visual arts career with a virtual exhibition HALF, and has since been practising as a full-time artist, with numerous group and solo exhibitions to date.

Jane Va'afusuaga was born and raised in Eastbourne, Wellington and is of Scottish heritage. Having trained as a teacher, Jane taught for 10 years in Auckland and four years in Apia, Samoa. Jane lives in Samoa in the village of Falease'ela, with her husband, Olsen and daughter, Coco. Their house sits beside the Liua le Vai o Sina River, where they host visitors from around the world through their ecocultural adventure tourism business. Life in the village means Jane has been immersed in the culture, language, natural environment, church and customs of the Samoan people. She works in the family business, writes when she can and volunteers at the local primary school where she has set up a library. Jane is a 2017 New Zealand Society of Authors mentorship recipient.

Jane Va'afusuaga was born and raised in Eastbourne, Wellington and is of Scottish heritage. Having trained as a teacher, Jane taught for 10 years in Auckland and four years in Apia, Samoa. Jane lives in Samoa in the village of Falease'ela, with her husband, Olsen and daughter, Coco. Their house sits beside the Liua le Vai o Sina River, where they host visitors from around the world through their ecocultural adventure tourism business. Life in the village means Jane has been immersed in the culture, language, natural environment, church and customs of the Samoan people. She works in the family business, writes when she can and volunteers at the local primary school where she has set up a library. Jane is a 2017 New Zealand Society of Authors mentorship recipient.

Dom Felice Vaggioli (1845-1921) was a Benedictine monk from Tuscany. As a youth he was a conscientious objector, avoiding compulsory military service by hiding in a region which was under Austrian rule. He began his novitiate in 1864 and was professed a religious the following year. In 1876 he was sent as a missionary to Tunisia, and three years later to New Zealand. Vaggioli was first appointed parish priest in Gisborne, and was entrusted with the job of clearing the parish debt. He then performed similar tasks at St Benedict's church in Newton, Auckland. However, the stress of debt collecting resulted in his health deteriorating and after a brief holiday he was appointed to Coromandel. In 1888, after his return to Italy, he assumed the important post of Abbot Visitor of the Italian province of his order, until 1896 when he ceased this role to concentrate on his writing. From 1910 until his death he occupied the prestigious position of Superior of San Giorgio Maggiore monastery in Venice. Vaggioli was known for his austerity, intellectual curiosity and frankness. John Crockett was born in Auckland in 1946 and attended Holy Name Seminary in Christchurch to begin studies for the Catholic priesthood. He then spent four years at Propaganda Fide College in Rome, where he received a theology degree and was ordained as a deacon, but decided not to become a priest. On returning to New Zealand he completed a BA in history and Italian and an MA in applied sociology. He has worked as a social worker and counsellor and currently works at Student Health at the University of Auckland. He is translating the first volume of Vaggioli's History of New Zealand and is also working on an historical novel, Nga Roimata, based on the journey of two students, Maori and Pakeha, who were sent to Rome by Bishop Pompallier in the mid nineteenth century.

Dagmar Vaikalafi Dyck (born 1972) is a New Zealand artist and art educator. Majoring in printmaking, she graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts with a Post-Graduate Diploma of Fine Arts in 1995. She was the first woman of Tongan descent to do so. Dagmar has exhibited work in New Zealand galleries and internationally since 1995 and her work is held in significant national collections across the country. In 2014 Dagmar received the Contemporary Artist Award at the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika Awards. Completing her Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Primary) in 2009 she is currently Senior Leader, art teacher and Inquiry Lead Teacher at Sylvia Park School, Auckland. In 2019 she received a Teacher Study Award and completed her Masters in Professional Studies - Education (Hons), focusing on culturally sustaining pedagogies within Visual Arts. She holds critical practitioner and sector knowledge across arts and education. Dagmar's maternal lineage hails from the Wolfgramm and Hemaloto kainga from the village of 'Utungake, Vava'u, Tonga. Her paternal lineage includes Dutch, Polish and German ancestry and links to her father's birthplace in Gdansk, Poland. Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi was born in Ngele'ia, Tongatapu, Tonga, and emigrated to New Zealand in 1978 with the goal of becoming an artist. In the early 1980s he taught at Rangimarie Arts and Crafts in Taranaki and left to become a full time artist in 1990. His practice has two levels. One is based in a traditional Tongan cultural practice of lalava, sennit lashing. Forms of lalava lashings were functional and decorative and used in the construction of houses around the Pacific. Before the arrival of metal, lashings bound a wide variety of items including houses, tools, and canoes. An example of Tohi's lalava is at the Fale Pasifika at Auckland University. The second aspect of his practice is more contemporary and includes working in a large variety of media: painting on canvas, carving in wood and stone, and designing abstract sculptural patterns in metal and other media. These patterns are based on lalava and their application in other dimensional forms moves the traditional to a contemporary setting. Tohi regularly participates in stone symposia around the world and his work is held in collections around the world. He is a featured artist in the Tangata O Le Moana permanent exhibition at Te Papa Tongarewa and has held residencies in Japan, Cook Islands, Fiji, England and the USA. Tohi was awarded his Samoan title, Sopolemalama, by Tupua Tamasese Tupuola Tufuga Efi in 2004 for lashing his Fale Maota in Nofuali'i, Samoa.

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Catharina Valckx has written and illustrated over thirty books and been nominated four times for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Her books are published in over eleven languages and have won numerous awards.

Artist Hannah Valentine and art historian Gabriella Stead are designers and writers at Gow Langsford Gallery in Auckland. Contributing writers are NZ artist Dick Frizzell; curator, art historian and associate professor Linda Tyler from the University of Auckland; UK-based editor, writer and artist Phil King; and NZ author, curator and artist Gregory O'Brien.