I was born in Christchurch and
grew up in Wellington, Auckland and New Plymouth. As a child, I wrote stories
and poems for the Children’s Page of the Evening Post newspaper. Checking on a
Saturday night to see if any of my stories had been published was an
established part of my childhood. The rest of the family used to check too, and
I would get phone calls from my dear great-aunts if anything was in there. I
still have the book that I pasted all my stories into, and I often take it
along when I do school visits.
Another big influence was Ida
Gaskin, my wonderful English teacher at New Plymouth Girls’ High School. Ida
treated me as a writer. She died in January 2016, aged 96.
After high school and
university came overseas travel, an MA in
English Literature, marriage, more study (library diploma) and more travel, including long
overland trips through Asia and Europe. All this time I was writing letters and
travel journals, but it wasn’t until I was at home with small children that I
started to write again seriously. I read a newspaper article about the School
Journal and thought that might be something I could do in the small pockets of
time I had available.
My first stories, poems and
plays were published in the School Journal in the 1990s. Later I became
interested in non-fiction and covered many different topics for educational
publishers. Scholastic has published five of my children’s novels, including Enemy
at the gate, shortlisted for the 2009 NZ Post children’s book awards. New
Holland has published three non-fiction titles and a picture book, Best
mates, illustrated by Bob Kerr. Other work (both plays and short stories)
has been published in anthologies.
In recent years, my interest
in history has translated into writing historical fiction and non-fiction, with
an emphasis (partly because of family history) on war-related stories. Anzac
Day: the New Zealand story was shortlisted in the 2014 NZ Post children’s
book awards, and Waitangi Day was shortlisted in the children’s choice
section in 2015.
Interview questions:
Positive (happy) you discovered while writing/illustrating the
book.
One positive experience I
had was getting in contact with lots of people all around the world who helped
with my research or let me use their photos. I also found it very positive to
be writing and thinking a lot about peace.
Sad (tragic) you discovered while writing/illustrating the book.
When researching by
reading old diaries and letters, you come across many sad entries. One of
the most poignant that found its way into the book is the diary entry by
Australian WW1 nurse Elsie Tranter, written on Armistice Day. Many soldiers had
mixed feelings about celebrating on that day; of course they were relieved that
the war was over but their reactions were often quiet and muted.
But the
nurses only got a few hours off to celebrate, if they were lucky. Men didn't
stop dying just because the Armistice had been announced, and the nurses still
had sick and wounded patients to look after.
Interesting (that surprised you) you discovered while
writing/illustrating the book.
I was surprised and
pleased that there are so many peace memorials in New Zealand. We often focus
on the war memorials but actually there are a lot that commemorate peace, and
they come in all sorts of different and interesting forms, such as peace poles,
flames, bells, walks, plaques and buildings.
Graduating in Wellington with a Diploma of
Visual Communications Design, Fifi freelances with fingers in many creative
pies. She
is a published junior fiction novelist, children’s book illustrator of more
than 30 titles and was a long standing television presenter of arts and crafts
on firstly TVNZ’s ‘What Now’ and then ‘The Good Morning Show’. Fifi is a
veteran of Wearable Arts; a finalist and award winner over 20 years with 22
entries in show. She has also worked with Weta Workshop, 3 Foot 7 Productions,
Pukeko Pictures and The Production Shed in the New Zealand TV and film industry
as a costumier, puppet maker and illustrator. When she has a moment,
Fifi visits
schools and community groups, inspires budding artists and writers and runs
workshops in creative process. 
My husband’s grandfather Rothwell, wrote postcards to his
fiancé Hilda, from 1914-1918. Particularly poignant were two from France; they
said simply “Am O.K” and “Keep smiling!” I was in the process of scanning and
blogging these cards for the family when I read David’s story. Jim’s
letter home never mentioning the horrors of the trenches struck an immediate
chord with me; those cheerful words from a young man, disguising the reality of
his situation. Rothwell did come home from France to be a husband and father,
but was far from ‘o.k’; dying just a few short years later from the cruel
ravages of his war experience. Illustrating this book was a journey through his
time for me. I visited the Army Museum in Waiouru (a must see- really great!)
studied WW1 uniforms up close (collected by passionate people), grew red
poppies, (harder than you'd think) photographed mud (outside our house) and
rubbed chalk pastel until my fingers were raw. I learned much about pastel
illustration technique, but more about the horror and sadness of war. 
Anna Mackenzie lives
on a farm in Hawke’s Bay, NZ, where she writes contemporary, speculative and
historic fiction. Her nine titles have netted her seven Notable Book Awards, an
NZ Post Honour Award, Sir Julius Vogel Award and other accolades. She wrote her
first book when she was seven – and is very glad her mother kept it!
Melinda
Szymanik has been a writer of children's fiction across a wide range of ages
for over fifteen years with many publications to her name. Her first novel was
completed during an NZSA mentorship and she is now herself a mentor for this
programme. Her picture book The Were-Nana (Scholastic, 2008),
illustrated by Sarah Anderson, won Children’s Choice at the 2009 NZ Post
Children’s Book Awards, and she also won Librarian's Choice at the 2014 LIANZA
Awards for her junior novel A Winter's Day in 1939 (Scholastic,
2013). 
