Authors

Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley is one of New Zealands leading academics and a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Aparangi. He has led numerous externally funded research programmes, has has written or edited 25 books and is a regular commentator in the news media. In 2010, he was a Fulbright SeniorScholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and in 2013, a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Goettingen. He was awarded the Royal Society of New Zealand Science and Technology medal in 2009 in recognition of his academic scholarship, leadership and public contribution to cultural understanding and in 2011, his contribution to Sociology was acknowledged with the Sociological Association of Aotearoa New Zealands scholarship for exceptional service to New Zealand sociology.

Sylvan Spring is a Pākehā writer and occasional music-maker who has spent most of their life in Te Whanganui-ā-Tara. Their work has appeared in The Spinoff, Turbine Kapohau, Sweet Mammalian, Stasis, Peach Mag and Bad Apple.

Robyn Spurdle married into William Akerman’s branch, and ever since discovering the family tree that had been created for the 1942 reunion has been immersed in researching the family’s history. Building a Future is a far cry from the sixth form accounting guides Robyn is known for, however, it is her third genealogy book — Spurdle Heritage and Milling the Family Tree being the other two. Julie Daymond-King is a great-great-granddaughter of William Akerman, and from birth was brought up with the 1942 family tree. Most of her career was spent in science administration and education governance, but her interest in family history led her to compile the database of New Zealanders mentioned in the NZ Woman’s Weekly, issues 1932 to 1959, for the New Zealand Index, The Knowledge Basket.

Ian St George is a semiretired doctor, rugby enthusiast and amateur historian. His uncle married Cliff Porter’s niece.

Wendy St George has worked as a graphic designer, photographer and scanning electron microscope technician. Now, with her partner Stephen Woollett, she owns and operates a boarding kennel and cattery in the South Island of New Zealand.

Gareth St John Thomas is the founder and CEO of Exisle Publishing where his mission is to bring books into the world from voices that otherwise wouldn’t have been heard, and to give readers something with heart. His other books include Finding True Connections and Grandpa’s Noises.

Gareth St John Thomas is the founder and CEO of Exisle Publishing where his mission is to bring books into the world from voices that otherwise wouldn’t have been heard, and to give readers something with heart. His other books include Finding True Connections and Grandpa’s Noises.

No biography

Professor Kevin Stafford is a veterinarian with an interest in animal behaviour and welfare. He is the author of several books, including Livestock Production in New Zealand. He is a fellow of the both the Royal College of Veterinary

No biography

Alex Staines is a New Zealand poet born in Auckland in 1962. "Paper Road" is his fifth book of poetry.

Anne Noble is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most widely respected contemporary photographers; she has been at the forefront of photographic practice in New Zealand since the early 1980s. Creating bodies of work that mark sustained engagement with particular places, sites, histories, issues and, more recently, species, her images are known for their beauty, complexity and conceptual rigour and for their persistent inquiry into the ways we perceive and come to understand the natural world.