Authors

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Born in Dunedin in 1942, Dunstan Ward studied at the University of Canterbury, then taught at Waikato University. In 1971 he left for London, and in 1973 settled in Paris, retiring as Professor of English at the University of London Institute in Paris in 2007; he still teaches a weekly seminar at the Paris centre of Columbia University (New York). With Beryl Graves, the poet's widow, he edited the Complete Poems of Robert Graves. Departures is his third poetry collection.

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Gareth Ward is not your average author. He has been a police officer, royal marine commando, magician, hypnotist and a zombie. Gareth is an author and the owner of two independent bookshops. Gareth’s first novel, The Traitor and the Thief, won the Storylines Tessa Duder award in 2016 and was published through Walker Books Australia. The sequel, The Clockill and the Thief, was published in 2019. Gareth won the 2018 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Youth Novel, received a 2018 Storylines Notable Book Award, has been a finalist in two categories at The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and made New Zealand Listener’s Top 50 Book list in 2017.

Gareth and Louise Ward are the real-life owners of independent bookshop Wardini Books, with stores in Havelock North and Napier, New Zealand. Louise is known among the staff as Fearless Leader and Gareth as a bit of a dick; he is, however, the author of the Tarquin the Honest and The Rise of the Remarkables book series, as well as being the bestselling and award-winning author of The Traitor and the Thief and The Clockill and the Thief. Gareth and Louise met at police training college in the UK and are both ex-coppers. Louise has one murder arrest to her name, is an English Literature Graduate and as an ex-teacher inflicted Shakespeare on inner-city twelve-year-olds. She regularly reviews books on RNZ. Both are obsessed with their rescue dog Stevie, avoid housework and gardening, and live in the cultural centre of the universe that is Hawke's Bay, Aotearoa New Zealand. The Bookshop Detectives is Gareth and Louise's first book together.

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Susan Wardell (Author) Susan Wardell is from Dunedin, New Zealand. She lives by the harbour, and teaches at the University of Otago, while raising two small humans and a modest indoor jungle. Alongside academic writing Susan publishes in a variety of creative genres. Her poetry, micro-fiction, book reviews and literary essays have been published in a variety of journals throughout Australasia, and won several awards. Rose Northey (Illustrator) Rose Northey is a Wellington-based illustrator and poet. She spent three comfy years in Product Development Engineering before realising she wanted to try her luck at a creative career. She has produced her own comedy fringe show and illustrated a visual novel game for the indie studio, SkyBear Games. A TedxAuckland Alumni and the current champion of the Going West Writers Festival Poetry Grand Slam, Rose brings a sense of joy and silliness to all of her art forms.

Dr Cheryl Ware is a historian of sex, gender and health in late-twentieth-century Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. She is the author of HIV Survivors in Sydney: Memories of the Epidemic (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) which received endorsement from internationally recognised leaders in oral history, Australian history, and histories of HIV and AIDS. Cheryl has held a Royal Society Te Apārangi Marsden Fund Fast-Start Grant, a Judith Binney Writing Award and a Kate Edger Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship for her research on histories of sex work, and was shortlisted for the New Zealand Historical Association’s Mary Boyd Prize for the best article on any aspect of New Zealand history. Cheryl has conducted over 120 in-depth interviews across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand and served on the executive committee of the National Oral History Association of New Zealand from 2018 to 2024. She completed Untold Intimacies as a senior research fellow at Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland.

Kennedy Warne, co-founder of New Zealand Geographic magazine and contributor to National Geographic, often writes about the sea, including the book Let Them Eat Shrimp: The Tragic Disappearance of the Rainforests of the Sea. His most recent books, however, are land-based: Tuhoe: Portrait of a Nation and View From the Road, a collaboration with photographer Arno Gasteiger. He has also produced two children's books with Northland illustrator Heather Hunt: Cuckoo and the Warbler and It's My Egg (and you can't have it!). Once a fortnight Warne speaks about the outdoors, nature and adventure on RNZ's morning programme, Nine to Noon, in a slot entitled 'Off the Beaten Track'

Leanne Warr has lived with depression for over 30 years. She is a former journalist and lives in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Sir Miles Warren was born in Christchurch and educated at Christ’s College. Sir Miles notes that his first involvement with the architecture of Christ’s College was in 1945 as a 16-year-old draughtsman working for the architect Cecil Wood. Sir Miles has received many awards over his long career in architecture including in 1974 a CBE and in 1985 a KBE, both for his Services to Architecture. Sir Miles was given the country’s highest honour in 1995, when he was admitted to the Order of New Zealand. He received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Auckland in 2001, in 2003 he was made an Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Icon and he received one of two top honours in Canterbury’s Business Awards in September 2007. Alec Bruce was born in Blenheim and boarded at Christ’s College where he was head prefect in 1975. He completed his degree in Auckland and has been a practising architect in Christchurch since 1985. His first collaboration with Sir Miles Warren was in 2000. Design awards received by Alec during his career include many for adaptive reuse and restoration of heritage buildings. Alec has a deep respect for the skill and mastery of the architects who preceded him at Christ’s College. He continues to apply his knowledge of Christchurch’s distinct architectural traditions to his projects and professional life.

Ben Warren is a leading clinical nutritionist, holistic health expert, founder and former clinical director at BePure Clinic. Ben has made it his mission to build a new future of health by empowering and educating New Zealanders on the importance of diet, lifestyle and nutrition. Ben has also presented at TEDx on health and longevity in the modern world.