AJ Fitzwater lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. They have published a variety of short fiction, and their books are No Man’s Land and The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper. They are a Sir Julius Vogel Award winner, graduate of Clarion 2014, and Artist in Residence at The Christchurch Arts Centre 2021. They tweet
@AJFitzwater
Andi C. Buchanan lives and writes in Lower Hutt. Winner of Sir Julius Vogel Awards for From a Shadow Grave (Paper Road Press, 2019) and their short story “Girls Who Do Not Drown” (Apex, 2018), their fiction is also published in Fireside, Kaleidotrope, Glittership, and more. Most recently they’ve been writing witchy stories, starting with the novella Succulents and Spells. You can find them at https://andicbuchanan.org or @andicbuchanan on Twitter.
Anna Kirtlan is a short, brightly coloured cat enthusiast. She writes both fiction and non-fiction with a nautical bent, experiments with sci-fi, fantasy, horror and humour and does her best to be a good mental health advocate. Anna’s first book, Which Way is Starboard Again? is about her bumbling around the South Pacific on a steel yacht. Her second, Ghost Bus – Tales from Wellington’s Dark Side, is a creepy and humorous collection of short stories, and her third, Raven’s Haven for Women of Magic, features misbehaving elderly witches and a large number of cats. You can find out more about Anna and her writing at
annakirtlanwrites.nz
Anthony Lapwood’s fiction has appeared in publications in Aotearoa and internationally and been broadcast on Radio NZ. He has a Master of Arts in Creative Writing through the International Institute of Modern Letters. His first book, Home Theatre, a collection of realist and non-realist stories, is forthcoming from VUP. He lives in Te Whanganui-a-Tara and can be found on Twitter and Instagram: @antzlapwood
Bing Turkby is an apprentice music-wizard from Papaioea, Aotearoa. His favourite colour is blue, and his favourite kind of music is heavy metal music. In twenty-five years of playing in bands the length and breadth of the Manawatū, he has accrued countless thousands of “Exposure Dollars”, which he plans to redeem for a handful of magic beans one day. “Oh well,” his Gran used to say, “as long as you’re happy!” You can find more of Bing’s books, including The Musomancer series, on Amazon.
When she isn’t writing, Casey Lucas works in video game development, voice acting, games writing, and comics, where she localises Japanese manga for the English-language market. She is the recipient of the 2020 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Short story and the author of the SJV-shortlisted web serial Into the Mire. She’s active on twitter as @CaseyLucasQuaid and you can read more of her work at www.intothemire.com
Dave Agnew is an editor by trade and an author by aspiration. He lives near Te Awa Kairangi, and spends most of his time thinking about sad wizards. You can find him on Twitter
@Cptn_Dr , though he is neither a captain nor a doctor.
Emily Brill-Holland is a creative based in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. With publishing as her first love and performing arts as her second, she is an Associate Editor for the international genre-defying literary journal, F(r)iction. She also works full-time in government publishing and runs table-top roleplaying games as a Games Master for Questbook. When not working with words, she can be found scrolling through Sled Dog Twitter, watching plays or skiing.
Jack Remiel Cottrell (Ngāti Rangi) is a cryptid lurking in the hills of east Auckland, surfacing only for rugby and cricket. Jack specialises in writing flash fiction, and was nominated for a 2020 Sir Julius Vogel award. He received the Sir James Wallace Prize for a collection of flash and microfiction, and he promises to one day write something longer than 1000 words. No indication of when, however.
James Rowland is a New Zealand-based, British-born writer. His work has previously appeared at Aurealis, Compelling Science Fiction, and Prairie Fire. When he’s not moonlighting as a writer of magical, strange or futuristic stories, he works as an intellectual property lawyer. Besides writing, his hobbies are reading, stand-up comedy, travel, photography, and the sport of kings: cricket. You can find more of his work at his website
www.jamesrowland.net
Marie Cardno is a romantic fantasy author. Born and raised in Ōtepoti, she exchanged one city of harbour and hills for another and now writes from a windswept height in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. How to Get a Girlfriend (When You’re a Terrifying Monster) is her first publication and was a finalist in the 2021 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novella/Novelette. Find her online
@MarieCardno.
Melanie Harding-Shaw is a speculative fiction writer, policy geek, and mother-of-three from Wellington. Her short fiction has appeared in local and international publications such as Takahē, Strange Horizons and the first two Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy volumes. Her debut short story collection Alt-ernate, and contemporary witchy fantasy Against the Grain are available from online retailers now. You can find her at www.melaniehardingshaw.com, on Facebook
@MelanieHardingShawWriter, and on Twitter and Instagram
@MelHardingShaw.
Nikky Lee is an award-winning author who grew up as a barefoot 90s kid in Perth, Western Australia on Whadjuk Noongar Country. She now lives in Aotearoa New Zealand with a husband, a dog and a couch-potato cat. In her free time she writes speculative fiction, often burning the candle at both ends to explore fantastic worlds, mine asteroids and meet wizards. Her creative work has appeared in magazines, on radio and in anthologies around the world. You can find her online at W: nikkythewriter.com | T: @NikkyMLee | F: nikkythewriter
Octavia Cade is a NZ writer with a PhD in science communication, who likes using speculative fiction to write about the history of science in new and exciting ways. She’s published over 50 short stories in markets such as Clarkesworld, Asimov’s, and Shimmer. A novel, several novellas, two poetry collections, a short story collection, and a collection of essays have been published by various small presses. She was a visiting artist at Massey University/Square Edge in 2020, and has received a Michael King residency for 2021.
Paul Veart is a Pōneke-based writer and librarian. His work has been published in Turbine | Kapohau, JAAM, Brief, Takahē and Inklings. Paul’s screenplay adaptation of his short story “Florentina” was a finalist in the 2020 Kōpere Hou short film initiative. You can find him on Twitter @paulveart
P.K. Torrens is a head and neck cancer surgeon who writes when the Time Demon allows. He wishes homeopathy and healing crystals were efficacious so he could retire and write full time. His short fiction has appeared in Analog.
Renee Liang (1973–) is an Auckland-based poet, writer, playwright, theatre producer, medical researcher and practicing paediatrician. For her work in arts, science and medicine, Renee was named a Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader in 2010. She won the Royal Society Manhire Prize in Science Writing for Creative Non-Fiction in 2012. In 2018, she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the Arts.
T Te Tau is an artist and writer from Ngāti Kahungunu and Rangitāne ki Wairarapa. Her research explores how art, speculative fiction and mātauranga Māori contribute to new perspectives and understanding in science, specifically genomic research. She has a PhD in Creative Arts and is a member of the Mata Aho Collective, and is currently teaching an art and biology programme at Mana Tamariki (te reo Māori immersion high school) alongside her art and writing practice.
Tim Jones is a writer and advocate for a just transition to a low-
carbon future who lives in Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington. He was awarded the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa Janet Frame Memorial Award for Literature in 2010. He has published one novel, one novella, two short story collections, and five poetry collections. His latest book is climate fiction novella Where We Land (The Cuba Press, 2019). On the web: timjonesbooks.co.nz. On Twitter and Instagram:
@timjonesbooks
Zoë Meager is from Ōtautahi. Her work has appeared abroad in publications including Granta, Lost Balloon, and Overland, and locally in Hue and Cry, Landfall, Mayhem, Turbine | Kapohau, and Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy: Volume 2. There’s more at zoemeager.com