This month we’re featuring Heather McQuillan, whose new novel for young adults, Truth Needs No Colour, is released this month. Heather teaches writing, and writes short fiction and poetry and novels for young people. 1. Describe yourself in three words:…
2024 judge of the NZCYA awards Belinda Whyte in conversation with Margaret Mahy Award winner Stacy Gregg. I’ll be honest with you, I had never read a Stacy Gregg novel before reading Nine Girls for the judging of the 2024…
Paula Green shares eight poems for children from Roar Squeak Purr: A Treasury of New Zealand Animal Poems. In 2013, I launched Poetry Box, an online poetry page for children in Aotearoa. I wanted to create a meeting place for…
Illustrated by Alba Gil Cedrán This month’s Sampling is from last year’s winner of the Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize, Alba Gil Cedrán, in a re-imagining of Mahy’s 17 Kings and 42 Elephants. The shortlist for this year’s award will be…
You know it, you love it—it’s the Mahy Questionnaire! This month we are featuring former educator turned multi award-winning author Mandy Hager! She tells us all about recurring newborn nightmares, sweet-talking cars and desiccated skinks, among other things. Her latest…
Another month, another Mahy Questionnaire! This time we’re featuring former librarian and award-winning writer and poet Elena de Roo. Her latest title Ring Ting Tūī—a cheeky rhyming counting book—is out now! Read on to find out Elena’s takes on rollercoaster-like…
Gillian Torckler has many beautiful books under her belt, the latest being Dinner with Grandpa, illustrated by Nikki Slade Robinson (Duck Creek Press). She gives us her answers to our world-famous-in-New Zealand (okay maybe just semi-famous on The Sapling) Margaret…
You know it, you love it – it’s the Mahy Questionnaire! This month we are featuring award-winning author and internationally acclaimed writing coach Brian Falkner! His most recent title, Andromeda Bond in Trouble Deep (sequel to Brainjack) was a finalist…
By Margaret Mahy Margaret Mahy’s classic is given a new lease of life with this new edition of the book, beautifully illustrated by the 2021 winner of the Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize, Minrui Yang. Check out an excerpt below! There’s…
This month’s Mahy Questionnaire is here, and this time we have award-winning author, publisher, and creator of Mila’s Books, Dahlia Malaeulu, with us! Read on to hear Dahlia’s takes on all things Mahy-related, including hauntings, changeovers, and what to do…