Hi there. I’m a journalist, author, and copywriter in Nelson, New Zealand. If you’re looking to hire me, here’s my CV.

I have a first-class honours degree in English literature from the University of Otago and a post-graduate diploma in journalism from the University of Canterbury. I am a nine-time finalist for New Zealand media awards, including winning Lifestyle Feature Writer of the Year and Regional Newspaper Feature Writer of the Year. In 2013 I won the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction personal essay prize, and am also the grateful recipient of several writing grants, including third-equal runner-up for the 2018 Surrey Hotel Steve Braunias Memorial Writers Residency In Association With The Spinoff Award.

Journalism

I cover everything, but particularly love stories that place people at the centre of science, the environment, and outdoor adventure. I spent the first five years of my career at my region’s newspaper, The Nelson Mail, and still write regular profiles for them today. I love the variety of this job and have had bylines in more than 40 publications including New Zealand Geographic, The Listener, North & South, Metro, The Spinoff, the New Zealand Herald, Sunday, Canvas, Your Weekend, Pacific Standard, BBC Travel, The Magazine, Newsroom, Overland, 1972, SkySport, Pro Photographer, and airline magazines including Cathay Pacific, Jetstar, and Virgin. I love to travel for work, and have reported from Thailand, South Korea, Japan, the US, Australia, the Vancouver Winter Olympics, and Antarctica. I visit many different places and people around New Zealand for stories several times a month.

Books

In the last few years I’ve also been working on books, and have recently written Southern Nights (HarperCollins, 2019) a story of New Zealand astronomy. I also edited Headlands: New Stories of Anxiety (Victoria University Press 2018).

Before that, I wrote The World of WearableArt: 30 Designers Tell Their Stories (Potton & Burton, 2015) and At Home With Hospice: 30 Years in Nelson Tasman (CopyPress, 2018).

I’ve also had essays collected in two editions of Tell You What: Great New Zealand Non-fiction (Auckland University Press, 2015 and 2016).

Content and copywriting

I write articles, newsletters, blogs, and other copy for organisations including VetScript, Heritage New Zealand, Mazda, the Nelson Tasman Hospice, Cawthron Institute, NIWA, the New Zealand Drug Foundation, and Les Mills. I enjoy working regularly with the World of WearableArt on their annual show programmes and blogs. I also proof, ghostwrite and edit private manuscripts, and have another very enjoyable side gig working with international photography mentor Christina Force, writing bios for top professional photographers including Virginia Woolf, Francesco Bittichesu, Hannah Caldwell, James Braund, Lilli Waters, and Zoe Wetherall.

Other

In 2014 I founded Featured, a growing collection of New Zealand's best non-fiction, which ran for five years. Nikki Macdonald and Mike White operated it from 2016-2019, and together we collected a digital library of 500 stories. In mid-2016 The Spinoff and I created podcast The Get, interviewing writers and journalists about their best stories. I’ve also been on many writing and media panels at book festivals as a guest and chair, and was the 2017 Nelson Arts Festival Readers & Writers programme coordinator. I review books for Stuff and was a book reviewer for Radio New Zealand’s Nine to Noon programme for two years.

I’d love to hear from you about how I can help your publication or project - please get in touch.