Welcome

Kia ora and welcome to the NZ Society of Authors Northland website. On this site, we include our monthly newsletter and highlight members’ profiles, publications, book launches and other activities including workshops, conferences and presentations. We also keep you informed about events we are planning.

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Meetings

Monthly Branch Meetings will be held via Zoom at 7.30 on the first Tuesday of the month.

The Zoom link will be sent to members with the agenda.

Dates will be advised in the monthly newsletter and on our Facebook page.

 Facebook page (public) and Facebook group (private)

It is our intention to hold face-to-face events of interest to our members throughout the year.

Contact northlandauthors [at] gmail [dot] com for more information.

Events

In 2012, we started NorthWrite, an annual event aimed at helping writers connect with others and improve their craft. The focus of the 2012 3-day conference in Whangarei  was “The Business of Writing” and included workshops, presentations and a panel discussion with our key guests — which featured award-winning members from our national literary community, including recently elected national chair of the NZ Society of Authors and children’s book author Kyle Mewburn, illustrator Fifi Colston, poet Paula Green, journalist Joe Bennet, historical novelist Deborah Challinor, novelist and short story writer David Hill, publicist and publisher Lorraine Steele and journalist and PR expert Catherine Arrow.

In 2013, we presented Northwrite 2013: Collaboration, an online festival focusing on writers working with writers and culminating in a collaborative competition. 

In 2014, we held the NorthWrite 2014 Workshop Series in May and covered topics such as Editing, The Digital Process, Character, Japanese Poetry Forms, World Building and Creative Non-Fiction

In 2015, self publishing was our focus in a one day conference: NorthWrite 2015: Creating Books to be Proud of.

In 2019, a triumphant NorthWrite conference, hosting participants and presenters from throughout New Zealand, and from the United States via Zoom, was held at Barge Park in Whangarei.

2020 saw the arrival of the Covid 19 pandemic and our plans were thrown into disarray. Our parent body provided online opportunities.

In 2021, NZSA introduced a series of Regional Roadshows. Again, Covid 19 restrictions caused disruptions.

In 2022, the Northland Roadshow finally took place on 28th May 2022.

In 2023 we held an end-of-year celebration in November. This was the culmination of our Auction, held online in the preceding weeks. The auction brought in much needed funds to enable us to continue to sponsor various literary awards and prizes.

In 2024, we held the immensely successful NorthWrite 2024: Connecting Your Writing With Readers held in Kerikeri.

In 2026 we again held a successful day for writers by offering NorthWrite 2026: Pathways to Indie Publishing held in Whangārei. On the day we had USA Today best-selling authors Wendy Vella and Cheryl Phipps, as well as children’s publisher and illustrator Deborah Hinde. Experienced local authors also shared their publishing and marketing knowledge.

We also held on Zoom NorthWrite 2026: From Traditional to Indie Publishing, a Conversation With Alison Stuart.

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Members

The Northland branch of the NZSA was formed in 1996, and some of the original starting members still play central roles in our organisation. Our group has expanded to include around 90 members who come from all over Northland — from farmland, bush, coastal settlements and the urban centres of Whangarei, Kaitaia, Kerikeri and Dargaville.

If you are interested in finding out more about the New Zealand Society of Authors, please go to the national website  for information about the Society, its members and new membership opportunities.

If you are a writer residing in Northland and interested in finding out more about our branch, please email us at: northlandauthors [at] gmail [dot] com.

Current Committee Members

Chairperson – Sherryl Clark

She has published more than 70 books for young readers, including five verse novels. Her verse novel, Mina and the Whole Wide World, won the 2022 Prime Minister’s Award for Children’s Books in Australia. Her other books have won Notables, the NSW Premier’s award and an Honour Book in the CBCA Awards.

After teaching in the Diploma of Professional Writing & Editing at Victoria University TAFE in Melbourne for more than 20 years, Sherryl decided to focus on her writing and her freelance editing business. A Kiwi from the North, she originally went to Australia to work for three months and stayed for 40 years, returning here in 2022 in time for Cyclone Gabriel and three metres of rainfall. But she is finally able to call herself a gardener instead of a plant killer. Her writer’s websites are at www.sherrylclark.com and www.sherrylclarkcrimewriter.com

Vice Chairperson – Deb Jowitt

Deb Jowitt has lived on the Whangarei Heads for the past 22 years. Previously, she and her husband lived off-grid on Great Barrier Island and the Thames Coast, before happily moving with their three children and dog, Tiger, into the fully electrified house they built in Tapu. In 1990, she published These Hills Are Tapu, an environmental history of the Tapu Valley. After a move to Auckland in the late 1990s, she taught midwifery at AUT, which introduced her to academic writing. In 2004 she completed her MSc thesis, and in 2010, her PhD. While working at Auckland City Hospital and Te Tāhū Hauora: Health Quality & Safety Commission, she co-authored medical articles on a wide range of topics.

In 2017, keen to make the switch to fiction, Deb joined Whangārei Library 3.30 Flash. Since then, her micro and flash fiction has been published in several anthologies and online journals, including Flash Frontier: An Adventure in Short Fiction, and Changing Landscapes: Micro and flash fiction from Northland. Her current project is a novella-in-flash based on family stories.

Lesley Marshall

She has been married to Rex for over forty years, and they have four biological children, and various others that they have helped parent over the years. Some of these are still available for house-painting working bees, which is a huge plus! Lesley has lived in the same house in Maungatapere for the past 40-odd years (some very odd!) and can’t move out because there’s too much accumulated junk/ valuable stuff.  The children are all developing anxiety disorders at the realisation that clearing it all out will be their job after Rex and she cark it.

Secretary/ Newsletter Coordinator – Patricia Fenton

Trish is a late-comer to the world of fiction writing. Following a career in education that included writing curriculum and professional development publications for the International Baccalaureate in Cardiff, Wales, she returned to her home town of Whangārei with the aim of fulfilling her dream of writing a novel.

In 2018, she completed a Diploma in Advanced Applied Writing (NorthTec) gaining the NZSA Northland Excellence Award. Her major project involved writing a coming-of-age saga set in the sixties: Beyond the Rimu Grove, published in 2019.

When the spirit moves her, she occasionally writes articles, some of which have been published in the Northern Advocate. (The Bountiful Life of a Baby Boomer, More to progressing literacy development than phonics.)

Her second novel – War Bride – was published in August 2023. She’s written the sequel – After the War – which was released in February 2025, and she’s now going further back in history to write a junior novel inspired by a postcard sent to her mother during WW1.

Treasurer – Justine Baddeley

After completing a semester on NorthTec’s Diploma of Applied Writing in 2010 Justine sent her picture book assessment to HarperCollins, who published it and released Tea With Miss Tilly illustrated by Phillip Webb in March 2012. On 20^th August 2011 she also had a profile piece on country singer Carleen Still published in The Northern Advocate. Then in 2017 Wendy Pye Publishing released her reader All Dressed Up.

Having completed the NorthTec Level 5, 6 and the advanced Applied Writing Diploma Level 7 at the end of 2012, Justine went on to complete her Creative Writing degree with Massey. She is lucky enough to have returned to where it all began, and is now a tutor at NorthTec on the diplomas she once studied. Justine continues to write a Young Adult fantasy based in Whangārei about shape shifters, angels and creatures of nightmares, and the odd children’s picture book.

Justine lives with her husband, youngest daughter, two cats, and a cockatiel named Loki which keep her busy, while still renovating (on a shoestring) twenty-two years after buying a house advertised as Nightmare on George Street. You can contact Justine via her website www.justinebaddeley.com

Communications – Sue Barker

Sue writes all short form fiction and some poetry, but only since 2018. Before that she had a long career as an educator in schools, museums, zoos, and environmental government departments. Then she joined the Whangārei Library 3.30 Flash writers’ group and won the 2020 Whangārei Library Flash Fiction Competition. Since then, she’s been published in Fast Fibres Poetry 9, 10 & 11. She co-edited and contributed to You Might Want to Read This, an anthology of Whangārei Library 3.30 Flash writers published in 2021 and Changing Landscapes, published in 2023. She was short listed for Micro Madness 2022 and published on-line in Flash Frontier and National Poetry Day Given Words. She was put forward for the 2023 Best Microfiction anthology. In 2024 she was published in the anthology Haiku Downunder and in Te Moana o Reo/Ocean of Languages in 2025.

Committee

Janine Williams

Heather Whelan

Zana Bell

Northland Branch Members

Donna Blaber

Donna Blaber writes fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. She is an experienced journalist, magazine editor and author. Her career includes working as the road trip editor for a popular NZ car magazine, the chief editor of a motorhome mag, and as the launch editor of a new renovation magazine. She is widely published and for four consecutive years her feature articles made the finals of the Cathay Pacific Travel Media Awards. In 2013 she won Creative Northland’s Excellence in the Arts Business Award.
Donna’s first book was commissioned in 2004; since then she has produced more than 40 titles. When she is not writing she teaches creative writing workshops for children. She is also available for writer visits as part of the Book Council’s Writers in Schools programme http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Writers/Profiles/Blaber,%20Donna
While the majority of her work is published by mainstream publishers, she also runs a boutique publishing company which publishes, markets and distributes the popular Kiwi Critters® series of books for young children.

Narine Groome

Narine taught juniors as a primary teacher for years, which motivated her to write for children. In 2009 Penguin published her children’s picture book, Wheelbarrow Wilbur, realising a dream. She has 20 more children’s books waiting and wishes she could draw!

Currently, she is writing her first full-length play for a PANZ competition, 90 minutes in length. It’s ready to send, so she’s feeling chuffed! She has recently had some success with plays for PANZ – spaced out over a long time. Her play, A Word in Edgeways, was third in a PANZ competition last year, and another adult play, A Bag of Flour, was second in a PANZ competition in 2005. She has been re-motivated to try her hand at playwriting, and is enjoying the genre.

Jac Jenkins

Jac privately believes that her greatest writing accomplishment was the highly commended award for tidy writing that she won in primary school, as her hand-writing is usually exceptionally poor. Luckily she now does all of her creative writing on her laptop. Squeezing her writing between her two library jobs can be challenging, however she found time to win the Northland Short Story of the Year in both 2012 and 2013. She has had work published in the Northern Advocate, National Poetry Day in Northland and Flash Frontier and in 2012 was awarded a poetry mentorship through the NZ Society of Authors. Jac is also a member of the Northland poetry group, Take Flight.

Jac lives in rural Whangarei with her daughter, five hens and two cats. She and her partner live 3 ½ hours apart, yet somehow manage to spend most weekends together in one house or the other.

Sun Lyoung Kim

Sun Lyoung Kim was born in Seoul, Korea and immigrated to New Zealand in 1996. She has lived in Whangarei for 18 years. She graduated from NorthTec in 2006 with the Diploma in Applied Writing and was awarded the PEN prize from the New Zealand Society of Authors, Northland Branch. Since 2010 she has been writing educational columns on ‘Delicious Education’- a subsidiary company of Cho Sun Il Bo.

She published ‘Becoming a Kiwi’ in School Journal Part 1 Number 2, 2006 – and ‘Walking on the Grass’ in School Journal Part 1 Number 4, 2006.From 2006 to 2007 she has published columns on a Korean web newspaper about New Zealand and in 2005 published an article about a Korean folktale story in Whangarei Report. She is currently working on translating David Hill’s book, ‘Right Where it Hurt’ into Korean.

Anne McDonell

Anne worked as a speech language therapist and special needs teacher for 30 years. She has written poetry, published mainly in School Journal and literary magazines, and three educational books: Speech and Language Development 0-7 Years, Let’s Write Poems and Let’s Write Short Stories. She has won a Northland short story competition and poetry competition and her poems have been anthologised. In 2012 Anne decided to take on the challenge of writing a junior novel. The MOB and The Robbers, a novel for 9 to 11-year-olds, was published by Ocean Books in March 2013.  Thanks to NZSA, Anne had Janice Marriott as her mentor while writing this book.

Highlights of Anne’s writing career have been: visiting schools as a member of the Book Council’s Writers in Schools programme, travelling to schools in the Far North with Margaret Mahy and Northland writers, viewing children’s reactions to and artists’ illustrations of her work.  Her work has been translated into Maori and interpreted by the Auckland Symphony Orchestra.

Wendy Megget

Wendy Megget writes non-fiction, self-help and humour. She is a regular contributor to Kiwi Gardener Magazine and has also been published in NZ Fishing News. Her first eBook, The Little Bullying Book, is available online and she is now working on her new Weird Wisdom self-help series. In secret she is also developing a comic strip called Bongo’s Backyard. Wendy works as a Licensed Cadastral Surveyor and enjoys reading murder mysteries, gardening and collecting inspirational quotes.

Julie O’Brien

Julie is a qualified editor and journalist and works as a freelance editor offering editing, proofreading and writing services. She works primarily with non-fiction material from short documents to lengthy publications, including academic work and website copy. As she has also had a career in counselling and psychotherapy, she specialises in texts in these fields and in self-help books. Julie is also drawing on her psychotherapy experience to write a book about the process of personal change and its relationship to wider social change. For more information go to www.julieobrienediting.co.nz

Rae Roadley

Rae Roadley lay sprawled on a gravel road after being thrown by a bull – and had an idea. She’d write about her life on a farm situated on a remote and historic harbour peninsula. Her newspaper columns led to Love at the End of the Road, a memoir published by Penguin, which in turn led to an episode of New Zealand’s longest-running TV show, Country Calendar. A qualified journalist with experience in publishing and public relations, she’s also a freelance and creative writer, blogs about farming and rural life and tutors online non-fiction and feature writing at NorthTec. Rae’s work has been recognised in fiction contests and media awards.

Members Books

CUZ by Liz van der Laarse (OneTree-House) 2018

CUZ is a fast-paced adventure story written for 10-14-year-olds. It tells the story of two cousins, Huia and River, who are shipwrecked on Fiordland’s coastline.
Huia has been brought up among whanau. Tikanga Maori is central to who she is. River not so. He’s embarrassed about his lack of understanding – and he’s defensive.
But to survive they must work together, using Huia’s traditional knowledge of trapping, hunting and gathering kai. As they struggle to find a way back, River becomes increasingly drawn to tikanga Maori and its place in his life.
CUZ has been warmly reviewed in Magpies, the NZ Book Council School Journal, the Sapling, Backcountry, kidsbooksnz and Goodreads. CUZ is a Storylines Notable NZ Children’s Book (Junior Fiction) 2019 and is available through independent booksellers.
Teachers’ notes for CUZ can be downloaded for no charge from the publisher’s website.
Also check out the author’s Facebook page.

Beyond the Rimu Grove by Patricia Fenton

In the summer of 1966, a young teacher is dispatched to Ngarimu Valley School as a Probationary Assistant. As her coming-of-age narrative evolves, the reader is immersed in a remote community where nothing is quite the way it seems and lives are poignantly and inextricably interwoven.
Available from bookshops and creative outlets throughout Northland, from the publisher (info[at]lit-links.nz), or by request from your local library (ISBN 978-0-473-46896-5). See more from Patricia at her website: lit-links.nz

The Voyage of the Ika Roa By Heather Whelan

In Voyage of the Ika Roa author Heather Whelan relates the story of how she and then husband, Tim, built a boat and sailed it from England to New Zealand. The couple had no boatbuilding or sailing experience, but they set to and built Ika Roa, a Wharram-designed catamaran.

The voyage began with a trip across the Bay of Biscay, to Spain and Portugal. The Atlantic crossing took the Ika Roa and her crew far from land for the first time. Heather relates her adventures in the Caribbean Islands, Venezuela and the Dutch Antilles before they reached the Panama Canal.

While cruising the Pacific, Heather became fascinated by Polynesian history and the islanders’ way of life. Friendships among the cruising community and with locals enriched the journey. Two years after leaving Falmouth in England, Ika Roa arrived in New Zealand after sailing more than 10,000 nautical miles. The book is available from BigWords-Books website or from Heather at heatherwhelan2 [at] gmail [dot] com.

Fire by Anne McDonell

Flip has THREE major problems:

ONE – Jackson, a know-it-all who looks and dresses like a film star and bullies Flip.

TWO – You wouldn’t believe it but Flip’s mother invites Jackson to stay for the whole holidays.

THREE – Soon after Jackson moves in, a dangerous arsonist attacks a shop and homes in their street.

Can Flip and Jackson reach a compromise and work together to catch the culprit before someone is seriously hurt? A novel for 8 to 13-year-old children. Available from http://createbooks.co.nz/shop/.

The Tale of Prince by Bianca Staines

It’s a dog’s life but Prince couldn’t have asked for a better one. An unblemished pedigree, a loving family, weekly grooming and a bowl always full of delicious Auntie Cher’s Amazing Biscuits. What more could a handsome, aristocratic pooch want? But when a stray, flat-faced she-dog, Bennie, comes trudging through his territory, chewing his toys and stealing his beloved Humans’ hearts, his perfect life turns to mush. Prince wants it all back, just the way it was! Yet getting rid of the despicable Bennie seems harder than getting cat pee out of the carpet… Then, one night, Bennie disappears without a trace. Accused of murder by the Council of Pets, Prince will have to face the world outside his beautiful, white mansion. A world of usurped kingdoms, laughing demons, peculiar vets and fighting dogs until his journey to find Bennie will lead him to confront his most terrible foe yet and, on the way, find the wolf that lives inside every dog.

The Crazy Idea by Heather Whelan

Dylan would like to be a cat. One day,  he wakes from his nap to find that he has grown fur! He finds a mouse to chase, a bird to follow and a tree to climb. But he also finds that the baby pulls his tail and the dog chases him around the house. Being a cat isn’t so much fun after all…

Heather was inspired to write this story after listening to a five-year-old recount eating cat food at news time in class one morning.
The Crazy Idea has gorgeous illustrations by Denise Whitmore.
Copies are available for $15 from https://heatherwhelanwriting.wordpress.com/.

Love at the End of the Road by Rae Roadley

Soon after returning to her hometown in Northland, New Zealand to work as a journalist, Rae meets farmer Rex Roadley through a rural dating service.
Rex’s beef and sheep farm at Batley, on the Kaipara Harbour, has been in his family for almost a century, however now the only evidence of the spot’s fascinating historic past is a magnificent two-storeyed villa standing alone on the point.
Neither Rae nor Rex are youngsters and their love affair, relationship and lives together go through many twists and turns.
Meanwhile Rae, a lifelong city dweller, learns to cope with mud, managing a large house and garden, the intricacies of farming, and the frustrations of life in the backblocks, while getting to know the locals and assorted animals – from wild kittens to wild bulls.
Rae’s charming story is beautifully written from the heart. Not only does she find love with Rex, but she finds out more about herself than she knew. Woven through her account are stories about the great house itself at Batley and the surrounding countryside. (First published by Penguin).

To get a hard copy, visit:  www.raeroadley.co.nz/. To get the ebook on Amazon: Click here.

Stone Wall Country by Catherine Ballard

This is the latest by Catherine Ballard and second in the series about dry stone walls in Northland, New Zealand.

It outlines the fascinating story of dry stone walls in the Bay of Islands and Kaikohe areas, the origin of the stones and the people who built with them. 

Carefully researched, Stone Wall Country is based on historical records backed up by the recollections of living people who gave an overview of how the walls were built.

These districts have hundreds of kilometres of dry stone walls. They are a defining feature of the landscape and it is no coincidence that the topography is dominated by small volcanic cones. The walls have become as much a part of the landscape as the volcanic cones from which they originated. Contact: ballardonthehill [at] gmail [dot] com

Lost by Heather Whelan

It’s the 1860s and orphaned brothers Tom and Jim, together with their young sister Kate, are leaving England bound for Australia. Their plan is to join the gold rush and make their fortune. When Kate accidentally ends up on a ship bound for New Zealand the boys have to set off without her–and Kate has to fend for herself in a strange new country. Will the boys find gold? And will Kate ever see her brothers again?

Lost is available from Wheelers and from the author: Contact www.heatherwhelanwriting.wordpress.com Price: $20+postage (generally $5 within NZ). (Can be delivered locally)

Magpie and the Morning Light by Anna Williams

Magpie and the Morning Light Is a fantasy tale about a selfish magpie who loves to steal anything bright and shiny that catches his eye. However, his thieving habit causes trouble in the forest, where he lives with all the other birds, and they decide to teach him a lesson. What do they do?

The story sends a strong message that selfishness won’t be tolerated in society and others will fight back. The illustrations are by a local Whangarei artist and are rich and colourful. Although this book is aimed at around 5-8-year-olds, even a very young child would enjoy the pictures.

Copies are available from the author and they sell for $20 each plus P&P. Email:  annawilliams.writer [at] gmail [dot] com