This year, children’s book illustrator and author Ruth Paul was awarded the University of Otago College of Education Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence Fellowship—a mouthful of a title for a genre of few words. Ruth tells us about…
Thanks to a partnership between the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA) and the School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (SLANZA), tertiary grants are available for anyone who wants to complete a tertiary library qualification. School…
A poem about falling asleep listening to the rain has won a new competition set up to promote poetry for children. ‘Night Rain’ by Annelies Judson from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland won the Drop by Drop Poetry for Children Competition being…
Introducing Oscar Sweetman: He runs a Youtube channel called HeHatesNovels, which he considers an ironic username because reading is his passion. Leading up to the NZCYA Book Awards, he reviewed the finalists in the YA category on his channel. After…
Do descriptions of food in books have you drooling or recoiling in disgust? This edition of the Giselle Clarkson comic delves into the delights and despair of the culinary in children’s literature.
Linda Tuhiwai Smith is renowned in her field – indigenous education – and now has authored a series of picture books dealing with social issues, the Whatumanawa collection, available in both te reo Māori and reo Pākehā. They are serious,…
Design is a huge part of what makes good books even better. Design is not just about looking pretty; it’s about guiding the reader’s eye, drawing attention to key features, making text readable, digestible, and accessible. Good design is almost…
It’s the penultimate instalment in our coverage of each category in the NZCYA Awards, and today we’re focusing on the finalists in the Best First Book Award category! Hear from the authors below as they tell us about their writing…
18-year-old Stella Weston finds lots to rave about with two new gritty and complex YA novels that explore themes of mental health, budding relationships, and complex family dynamics. Catching A Falling Star, by Eileen Merriman Catch a Falling Star, expertly…
Young author Denika Mead sits down with two fellow young writers, Arlo Kelly and Arush Gupta, to hear all about their books, their inspiration, and their creative processes. Arush Arush Gupta is the author of James Wood: Chronicles of a…