Authors

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Diane Brown is a novelist, memoirist and poet who runs her own creative writing school, Creative Writing Dunedin. Her publications include two collections of poetry (Before the Divorce We Go to Disneyland and Learning to Lie Together), a novel (If the Tongue Fits), a verse novel (Eight Stages of Grace), a travel memoir (Liars and Lovers), a prose/poetic memoir (Here Comes Another Vital Moment) and a poetic family memoir (Taking My Mother to the Opera). In 2013 she was made a Member of New Zealand Order of Merit for services to writing and education.

Mataio (Matt) Faafetai Malietoa Brown is an internationally acclaimed barber and hair artist and the founder of My Fathers Barbers, the barbershop where men go to heal. His dedication to reviving the craft of barbering has seen him teach and demonstrate all over the world. While he's cut everyone from All Blacks to members of Wu-Tang Clan, Matt believes his true calling is his work to redefine society's view of masculinity - and to help end the cycle of domestic violence affecting families throughout the world. Matt, a New Zealander of Samoan descent, together with his wife Sarah (Ngapuhi/Te Rarawa), founded the anti-violence movement She Is Not Your Rehab. In 2019, he outlined the kaupapa of She Is Not Your Rehab in a powerful TEDx Talk that continues to inspire today. Matt regularly collaborates with community and government organisations in New Zealand and abroad and hosts a men's anti-violence support group from his barbershop, enabling men to access free therapy and support. He is the creator and facilitator of a barbering programme taught in men's prisons throughout New Zealand and a Corrections NZ patron. He is also an ambassador for the It's Not OK campaign with the Ministry of Social Development. He was a 2020 Westfield Riccarton Local Hero and a finalist for the Kiwibank New Zealand Local Hero of the Year award. Matt and Sarah are proud parents to three and reside in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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James Brown's previous poetry collections are The Tip Shop (2022), Selected Poems (2020), Floods Another Chamber (2017), Warm Auditorium (2012), The Year of the Bicycle (2006), which was a finalist in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2007, Favourite Monsters (2002), Lemon (1999), and Go Round Power Please (1996), which won the Best First Book Award for Poetry. James works as an editor and teaches the Poetry Workshop at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington.

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Rob Brown is one of New Zealand's leading landscape photographers and writers. His photography and writing has appeared in many publications, such as the Montana Award-winning 'Classic Tramping in New Zealand'(1999) co-authored with Shaun Barnett, and 'New Zealand: The Essential Landscape'2011). 'Shelter from the Storm: the story of New Zealand's Backcountry Huts' (2012) and 'A Bunk for the Night' (2016 & 2021). Rob lives with his family in Wanaka and is currently the operations manager for the Backcountry Trust.

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