Authors

Paul Star was born in England in 1950 and has lived in New Zealand since 1972. He holds a masters degree in European history and English literature from Cambridge University. He gained a further masters and a doctorate from the University of Otago, focusing on nineteenth-century New Zealand environmental history. As a postdoctoral fellow at Otago he contributed to the Marsden-funded Empires of Grass project, which studied the transition of much of New Zealand from native forest to exotic pasture. Paul has published 30 articles in New Zealand, Australian and British journals, and wrote the chapter on environmental history in the new Oxford History of New Zealand. He lives and gardens on the Otago Peninsula.

Ulf Stark (1944–2017) is one of the world's great writers. Author of over 30 books for children and young adults, he has won many prizes, including the German Youth Literature Prize and the Astrid Lindgren Prize. He was shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2018.Anna Höglund is a Swedish illustrator and author. Her work has been recognized with Swedish and international awards. She has worked with many well-known authors including Barbro Lindgren and Ulf Stark.

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C.K. Stead is a distinguished, award-winning novelist, literary critic, poet, essayist and Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Auckland. He was the New Zealand Poet Laureate from 2015–2017, has won the Prime Minister’s Award for Fiction and is a Member of the Order of New Zealand, the highest honour possible in New Zealand. He has just been Longlisted in the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry.

C. K. Stead is an award-winning novelist, literary critic, poet, essayist and emeritus professor of English at the University of Auckland. He was the New Zealand Poet Laureate from 2015-2017, has won the Prime Minister's Award for Fiction and is a Member of the Order of New Zealand.

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Lea Stening is a registered dietitian and nutritionist with more than forty years experience specialising in sports nutrition and paediatrics. She has worked in all areas of school sporting codes and also nationally at high performance and academy levels including eight years with New Zealand Cricket, five years with New Zealand Rowing, and twelve years with New Zealand Paralympian sports. Lea’s work has taken her to Melbourne and London where she has worked in hospitals and private clinics, helping people with dietary-related health problems such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, gastrointestinal problems, allergies and intolerances. Lea is a member of Sports Dietitians Australia and PINES (Professional in Nutrition and Exercise and Sport), and believes that all sports dietitians and physical educators, working together globally can improve the health and physical activity of our children through better nutrition education, support and understanding. Health promotion has also been an important part of Lea’s work, involving public lectures, writing regular newspaper and magazine articles as well as conducting television and radio interviews. She is passionate about helping developing athletes and their families improve their physical and mental performance through better nutrition. Her mission. To build a supportive environment in which children can thrive, grow to be confident, fit and strong and carry a love for exercise and sport well into their adult life. Lea is the author of Nutrition Manual for Developing Rowers, 2005 and Healthy Kids, Happy Lives, 2017. In her new book How to Grow an Athlete: From Playground to Podium she focuses on children and sports nutrition and the basic themes that encourage healthy eating can be applied to the whole family.

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Mamari Stephens is a Aohunuku/Reader in Law at Te Kauhanganui Tatai Ture/Faculty of Law, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. A significant contributor to Te Kaupapa Reo-a-Ture/The Legal Maori Project, she recently completed the first comprehensive textbook on social security law. Mamari is a Kaimanaaki, pirihi/Maori chaplain and Anglican priest, and regular writer for e-Tangata and her own blog: Sparrowhawk/Karearea (www.sparrowhawkkarearea.com).

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Murdoch Stephens is an author and a founding editor of publishing collective Lawrence & Gibson. His 2022 book, Down from Upland, was longlisted for the Ockham NZ Book Awards Jann Meddlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction. He has a PhD on critical theory and climate change from Massey University, and was the driving force behind the double the refugee quota campaign, which is now government policy.

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