Helen Beckingsale.
Helen has been a children’s book enthusiast since encountering Tom Fitzgibbon and Betty Gilderdale at North Shore Teacher’s College and visiting Dorothy Butler’s bookshop when it was still based at her home in Birkenhead. She was a member of the Children’s Literature Association for many years and has been a member of the Storylines management committee since the Children's Literature Association merged with the Children's Book Foundation in 2000. She is currently Children’s and Teens Librarian at East Coast Bays Library.
►Back to list.
Tessa Duder.
Tessa Duder was a founding member of Storylines’ forerunner, the Children’s Book Foundation begun in 1989, and has loved watching the organisation grow in confidence and mana. Her 35 books for both adults and children include novels, non-fiction, plays and anthologies. She is a past president of the NZ Society of Authors (PEN Inc), and has served on the Board of the Spirit of Adventure Trust since 1993. Among her awards are the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal, the Meridian Energy Katherine Mansfield Fellowship 2003, the Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved Book 2005 and the 2007 Artists in Antarctic fellowship. Tessa has been a Storylines Trustee since the inception of the Trust Board. See also Tessa's author profile.
►Back to list.
Sarah Fordyce.
Sarah has avidly read everything from cereal packets to toothpaste tubes since the age of 3½, but since finding Storylines has focused her attention on the distilled essence of good literature: children's books! She has been in Storylines since 2001, joining the management committee in 2005.
►Back to list.
Katie Haworth.
Katie began her life in publishing with Mallinson Rendel in 2007. Since 2010 she has been commissioning editor for fiction and children's with Penguin.
Libby Limbrick.
Libby Limbrick has worked in teacher education for the past 18 years. For the past six years she was Head of the School of Arts, Languages and Literacies at the Faculty of Education, University of Auckland but is now the member of the School of Curriculum and Pedagogy. Most of her teaching is with postgraduate qualifications for teachers, and she coordinates and teaches the Postgraduate Diploma of Education (literacy), a qualification for teachers who want to specialise in literacy education. Libby is a strong advocate for the place of literature in teaching children to read and write. She has been a member of Storylines and its predecessors, the Children’s Book Foundation and then Children’s Literature Foundation of New Zealand, since 1992. One of her great delights in recent years is buying books for her grandchildren.
►Back to list.
David Ling.
David Ling has worked in publishing since 1974 and as Editorial Director of Heinemann Publishers in the 1970s
and 1980s and Publishing Director of Random Century in the 1980s and early 1990s published a series of educational readers and a number of picture books as well as books on literacy and reading. He has had his own company (David Ling Publishing) since 1992 and in 2010 added to this Duck Creek Press, a specialist picture book imprint.
An active member and long-time councillor of the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ), where his role has included representing PANZ on the NZ Post Children’s Book Award Management Committee, he was recently awarded Honorary Life Membership for his services to the industry.
►Back to list.
Melanie McVeigh.
Melanie has been on Storylines Management Committee since 2010, and currently chairs the Storylines Festival Committee. With a teaching background, Melanie has worked as a Learning Centre Coordinator, Children's and Teens' Services Librarian with public libraries, and now works as a librarian in a secondary school.
►Back to list.
Wayne Mills.
Wayne works at the Faculty of Education, University of Auckland, in the School of Arts, Languages and Literacies and before that, he was in the Faculty of Education at Waikato University. While living in Hamilton he started the Kids’ Lit Quiz™ which has since spread to other parts of the world. In 2008 he was awarded the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal for his distinguished contribution to children’s literature. See also Wayne's Storylines Margaret Mahy award profile.
►Back to list.
Helen O'Carroll.
Helen has worked in libraries for more than 20 years in many different roles but all supported schools or children’s literature in some way. In particular, she learned a great deal at the coal-face while working as a children’s librarian for Christchurch City Libraries from 2006-2009, including co-judging the LIANZA Book Awards in 2007. She now works at the Sylvia Ashton-Warner Library, University of Auckland. Despite a busy working life, Helen is first and foremost a mum. Her two daughters have inherited her passion for books, and keep her on her toes trying to feed their ever-changing and voracious appetite for story.
►Back to list.
Pamela Perger.
Pamela lectures in Mathematics Education at the University of Education. She has taught at all levels of primary school (new entrants to year 6). She has a strong interest in children's literature, not only enjoying the story but in the opportunities it can present for motivating or developing skills in other learning areas. Recent publications / research has included using children's literature in cross-curricular learning, using children's literature to launch mathematical investigations and children's identification of mathematical opportunities in story books.
►Back to list.
Rosemary Tisdall.
Rosemary has been involved with children’s books through her teaching, then motherhood, and more recently as a school librarian for eight years. Her years as a children’s librarian were times she remembers fondly – working with kids and helping them find just the right book to read. She is now a children’s literature consultant, freelancing through her company, Getting Kids Into Books. Currentlyshe works part time as a Curriculum Services Librarian at National Library, as well as working with Wheelers in their E-book division. She also writes teacher's resource guides for a children's theatre company, Tim Bray Productions. Rosemary was a judge for the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards in 2009 and 2010. As a committee member of the Children's Literature Association since about 1995, Rosemary served on the Transition Committee which merged the CLA and the Children's Book Foundation in 2000. She has been a member of the Storylines Management Committee and Storylines Festival committee since then and is also a Storylines Trustee.
►Back to list.
Helen Villers.
As a senior lecturer in language and literacy at the Faculty of Education Helen manages to find a picture book or a novel to read aloud in every lecture - for pleasure first and, where possible, for every single theme and topic within a course – even hard ones like assessment, disability or difference! Helen loves to read and to read and to read… and if there is time left over, to run, to garden and spend time with friends and family.
►Back to list.
