Authors

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Robyn Cotton grew up in South Taranaki and studied at Massey University, before embarking on her career in the dairy industry then as a management consultant and director. Late in her career she discovered creative writing and launched A Skylark Flies and Mary & Me, both based on personal experiences. The Jibe is her first mystery story. Robyn now enjoys life on the Hibiscus Coast where she can indulge her love of sailing while exploring the beautiful Hauraki Gulf. This passion became the inspiration behind The Jibe. She is a Christian living with Parkinson’s disease and likes nothing more than spending quality time with family and friends. Her other interests include photography, travel, various sports and exploring Aotearoa New Zealand’s natural environment.

Jack Remiel Cottrell

Jack Remiel Cottrell (Ngāti Rangi) grew up in Wellington and now lives in Auckland. His flash fiction collection was awarded the Wallace Prize for best manuscript in the University of Auckland Master of Creative Writing class of 2020. He has been published in numerous anthologies and online magazines, and his novella-in-flash ‘Latter Day Saints’ was published in 2018 by Ad Hoc Press.

No biography

No biography

Brent Coutts is a University of Otago graduate living in Auckland. He is the author of Protest in New Zealand (2013), Re-Reading the Rainbow (2017) and Pacific History (2018), which focus on themes of social justice, identity and decolonisation. In 2009 he was awarded the Royal Society Teaching Fellowship from the Royal Society Te Aparangi, which allowed him to begin research into New Zealand soldiers' experiences during World War II.

David Coventry’s first novel, The Invisible Mile, won the Hubert Church Award for Best First Book at the 2016 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. It was also published in the UK and Commonwealth by Picador UK, and the USA and Canada by Europa Editions. It has been translated into Dutch, Hebrew, Spanish, Danish and German. His second novel, Dance Prone, was published in 2020. David received an MA in Creative Writing in 2010 from the International Institute of Modern Letters, and he was the recipient of the 2015 Todd New Writer’s Bursary from Creative New Zealand. In 2022 he completed his PhD exploring the complexities and impossibilities of living a creative life with ME/CFS – a project which was selected for the 2022 Dean’s List, and forms the basis of Performance (2024). He was the 2022 Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence at the University of Canterbury.

Lis Cowey grew up in Otautahi Christchurch, and is of Scots/Northern English descent. Trained as a language teacher, with an MA in comparative politics, she has spent much of her adult life juggling parenthood and pen-wielding within the Government public-policy machine. She has two adult sons, Fred and Carlo, with her partner, Ben Schrader. Lis calls Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington home, dividing her time between the inner city and Otaki Beach.

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Joy Cowley is a prolific, widely-published and much-celebrated writer of fiction for adults and children. Cowley began her career writing short stories and novels before moving into the realm of children’s literature. She has published numerous novels, as well as short stories that have featured in journals, anthologies and book-length collections. She has written a remarkable range of children’s books and stories, often illustrated by renowned artists. Cowley was made a Distinguished Companion of New Zealand Order of Merit for services to children's literature in 2005, and she was awarded a Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement for Fiction in 2010. In 2018, Cowley was made a member of the Order of New Zealand. Biography and photo courtesy of Read NZ.

Peter Cox is the author of two previous books, Good Luck to All the Lads: The Wartime Story of Brian Cox 1939-43 and Desert War: The Battle of Sidi Rezegh. In 2019 he was awarded a Queen's Service Medal for services to sport, particularly hockey. He and his wife Robin live in Christchurch, where Peter previously worked as a chartered accountant and company director and now acts as an adviser to some family businesses and as a trustee for several sports organisations, while continuing to have an interest in military history.