Like the volcanic ash erupting from Stromboli and carried on winds across far oceans, Angie Belcher’s father and his family arrived in Island Bay, Wellington, in 1923. In those days, the journey from Italy was long and thwart with discomfort and doubts. After some years, they settled and the circle of life continued.
Like the volcanic ash erupting from Stromboli and carried on winds across far oceans, Angie Belcher’s father and his family arrived in Island Bay, Wellington, in 1923. In those days, the journey from Italy was long and thwart with discomfort and doubts. After some years, they settled and the circle of life continued.
Based in Papamoa with his wife Helen, Trevor has worked as a high-country station hand, deer culler and freezing worker before training as a history teacher and graduating extramurally with a doctorate in 2007. His interests include reading, music, current events, overseas travel and researching and writing about pre-treaty New Zealand.
Trevor has written numerous articles for historical journals and three books on culture-crossing Europeans for Penguin. Pakeha-Maori was published in 1999, Captured by Maori in 2004 and Cannibal Jack in 2010. A member of the New Zealand Military History Society, his Tribal Guns and Tribal Gunners was published by WilsonScott in 2016. Written for general readers, Trevor’s books are based on archival research, field studies and interviews with the descendants of key 19th century Maori, Pakeha and Pakeha-Maori.
Anne Cleary writes short stories, novels and, more recently, poetry. She is a member of Tauranga Writers, NZSA, and Read Between the Rhymes poetry group. Anne occasionally runs workshops on novel and short story writing. Her work-in-progress is a literary fiction novel called Apple Man about a missing West Auckland three-year-old. Anne lives in Tauranga with her husband and has two adult children.
I’ve always enjoyed stories and books. I loved to read curled up on my favourite chair by the window when I was a child. When my two children were young I home-schooled them, and the best time of day was always story-time. Nowadays, I like to write stories that capture the fun of family and friendship mixed with a good mystery that keeps the reader guessing.
Jacqui Greaves is a New Zealand-based writer of Erotica, Fantasy, Science Fiction and Science Fantasy. She loves nothing more than mixing the genres together in weird and wonderful ways.
Jacqui has led a full and interesting life. She’s worked as a teacher, bus driver, marine biologist, science manager and farmer.
Most days you can find her on Facebook. She’d love you to visit her webpage to find more of her stories.
Jacqui has led a full and interesting life. She’s worked as a teacher, bus driver, marine biologist, science manager and farmer.
Most days you can find her on Facebook. She’d love you to visit her webpage to find more of her stories.
Hi, I’m Jan. I create fantasy books and magical stories for young people of all ages. My books include The Broken Spell series – a fantasy adventure series – and A Mer-tale, a fantasy mermaid novella. I have a number of short stories published in anthologies – the latest is in ‘Pause’ (2025, Maia Publishing) and ‘Byline’ (2025, Tauranga Writers). More details available at jmgoldie.com. With a background in journalism and web content creation, I’ve been writing from the get go. I’m a member of the NZ Society of Authors, Bookrapt (The Bay of Plenty Children’s Literature Association), SpecFicNZ (Speculative Fiction) and Tauranga Writers.
Sharon is now the multi-award nominated author of The Realmshift Trilogy – a YA fantasy fiction trilogy: Medar (2017 – Tom Fitzgibbon Award finalist, 2015), Tyrelia (2019 – Sir Julius Vogel (SJV) Awards finalist, 2020), Golden City (2020 – SJV and Caleb Awards finalist, 2021) and The Tablet – a Realmshift Trilology Prequel (2023, SJV nominated 2024). She is a New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) StartWrite Manuscript Assessor, NZSA Complete Manuscript Assessor and NZSA Youth Mentor. She was the President of Tauranga Writers from 2019 to 2024. She has been the President of SpecFicNZ since 2022.
Piper Mejia is an advocate for New Zealand writers and literature and is a co-founder of 
Into the Mist (Cohesion Press, Australia)
Donna Goodacre, who is of New Zealand Māori Tainui descent, is a retired high
school/correctional centre/vocational school English and Foreign Languages teacher.
Her career spanned some forty years in New Zealand and Australia. She started her first
novel, Finding Miriama, in 2018, when family members convinced her that her
ancestors’ story, if told well, could make an interesting read. Five years of historical
research later, coupled with a little poetic licence and imagination, it was completed.
The sequel, Of Greenstone and Violins, published in 2025, took only one year after her
retirement from full-time teaching.
Donna still divides her time between her birthplace in Tauranga, New Zealand, and
Brisbane, Australia, where her close family lives. In both places she can be found on a
beach or somewhere small and intimate listening to live jazz
school/correctional centre/vocational school English and Foreign Languages teacher.
Her career spanned some forty years in New Zealand and Australia. She started her first
novel, Finding Miriama, in 2018, when family members convinced her that her
ancestors’ story, if told well, could make an interesting read. Five years of historical
research later, coupled with a little poetic licence and imagination, it was completed.
The sequel, Of Greenstone and Violins, published in 2025, took only one year after her
retirement from full-time teaching.
Donna still divides her time between her birthplace in Tauranga, New Zealand, and
Brisbane, Australia, where her close family lives. In both places she can be found on a
beach or somewhere small and intimate listening to live jazz
I was born in the Philippines. I have always loved reading books and believe books are the windows to the outside world. They aroused my curiosity, expanded and broadened my understanding of life and the world we live in. I hold Degree in Accounting, banking and Finance Diploma in Theology and am a Justice of the Peace. I speak several languages fluently.
Out of all our moves in Africa and England, New Zealand is the best. We still have a son Damon, in the UK and two grandchildren that we contact over Skype. In 2001, I retired after 50 years, in heavy engineering construction and later joined a small writing group in Yarm North Yorkshire. Yarm Writers gave me the inspiration I needed to write besides a creative course with a local college. Before then I had only written letters home during my worldly travels in Africa and the Arabian Gulf or daily notes in the company site diary. I read quite a verity of literature mostly autobiography and travel books. Some of my favourite travel authors: are Wilfred Thesiger, Paul Bowles, Ranulph Fiennes, Colin Thurbron, Jan Morris, Ernest Hemmingway Maurice Shadbolt, and many more.
Born in Greece to a Belgian mother and Kiwi father, I was passionate about storytelling from a young age—you couldn’t shut me up. But eventually, something did.
So I drifted through life, quietly brewing a world destined to resurface.
So I drifted through life, quietly brewing a world destined to resurface.
Years later, my son’s bedtime story requests shattered the seal, inviting me back into a world In which I am now just a mere tourist.
As a born and bred Kiwi growing up in the South Island, Denise developed a passion for reading mysteries. She devoured Enid Blyton’s Famous Five Books, before progressing to Agatha Christie’s whodunnits. This obsession resulted in her writing mysteries from an early age. But it wasn’t until she retired from full-time business writing; her passion for creative writing was reignited.
The birth of Denise’s first novel was inspired by her travels around North America over many years. These adventures formed the basis for her ‘September’ series. Books two and three feature the same main characters but are set in Tauranga, where murder and mayhem abound. Her detective, Ian Anderson, had a small part in these books, so when he asked for his own series, Denise immediately agreed. Her love for whodunnits has come full circle in the ‘D.I.Anderson’ series.
Her latest release, ‘Touch of Steel’ is Book three in this series. If you enjoy gripping and emotional thrillers, Denise would love to hear from you.
The birth of Denise’s first novel was inspired by her travels around North America over many years. These adventures formed the basis for her ‘September’ series. Books two and three feature the same main characters but are set in Tauranga, where murder and mayhem abound. Her detective, Ian Anderson, had a small part in these books, so when he asked for his own series, Denise immediately agreed. Her love for whodunnits has come full circle in the ‘D.I.Anderson’ series.
Her latest release, ‘Touch of Steel’ is Book three in this series. If you enjoy gripping and emotional thrillers, Denise would love to hear from you.
John Laker was born in the middle of World War Two, but not with that name. However, discovering his adoption in midlife was profound.
His autobiography, One Son Two Mothers, covers what he regards as just an ordinary chaps life from a terraced house on the outskirts of London to a city on New Zealand’s East Coast.
Encouraged throughout life and guided by fleeting meetings and unknown souls, has resulted in a satisfying diverse work life experience. Now retired he has written several short stories, has a historical fictional novel in mind and indulges in his life’s passions of model airplane building and flying, painting and enjoying music.
His autobiography, One Son Two Mothers, covers what he regards as just an ordinary chaps life from a terraced house on the outskirts of London to a city on New Zealand’s East Coast.
Encouraged throughout life and guided by fleeting meetings and unknown souls, has resulted in a satisfying diverse work life experience. Now retired he has written several short stories, has a historical fictional novel in mind and indulges in his life’s passions of model airplane building and flying, painting and enjoying music.
I’m a life member, and probably the oldest. Certainly, the longest now—2027 won’t only be a 60th anniversary for the group; it will also be the 25th for me. As a past president and secretary, I helped to facilitate our 40th anniversary in 2007 and our 50th in 2017—what a blast!
I came here with numerous writing credits in the UK and the USA. I fell deeply in love with New Zealand’s literary outpourings, whether fiction, poetry or prose, from My Simple Life in New Zealand by Katikati settler Adela Stewart to the latest Catherine Chidgey or Paul Cleave. Since then I’ve published 11 books of my own, and as a ‘literary midwife’ I’ve helped deliver about 60 others.
A creative writing tutor for over 30 years, I get almost as much joy in helping others grow as writers, either to publish the one particular book they most wanted to write, or as developing authors. To do this has been an honour and a privilege and, as all good teachers know, you’re always learning from such interactions.
I hope to continue writing until I die and I’m working hard on two projects I truly want to complete: Differently Normal, a memoir, and Bedding the Muse, on the reading and writing of poetry. I’m always happy to be approached for (almost) free advice on getting started—buy me coffee and a cream doughnut, and I’m yours for at least 40 minutes. Email jenny.argante.als@gmail.com or text 028 406 32 40 No Facebook. No website. Just Google my name and add ‘writer Zealand.’
Her favourite quote? “The only true writer is a re-writer.” (Farrukh Dhondy.)
Rachel published ‘Bumblebees Have Smelly Feet’ in 2019 after discovering bumblebees live underground, do “buzz pollination”, and really DO have smelly feet! She was motivated to write children’s non-fiction to share all the incredible, largely unknown, bumblebee facts she came across, and Aotearoa’s native bees. Rachel also writes picture books – “With a child on your lap and maybe one or more cuddled up beside you, touching, turning, talking – you’re all wonderfully caught up in the story together. Those moments of undivided attention, the closeness and connection, can’t be beat!”
