G. Brassi (Gretchen Brassington)

Gretchen’s shortened name, Brassi, was given to her early on by the children she taught, so when she left teaching to work at becoming an author in 1995 it seemed logical to continue using it.

Gretchen was born in 1942, the third child of seven. When she was 10 the family moved from a tiny worker’s cottage on a small farm in Taranaki to a rented suburban home in New Plymouth. Three moves in that city and the family was off again, this time to Hamilton. During her very mobile schooling Gretchen found continuity in reading. English was always a favourite subject and she spent weekends writing lengthy poems and stories. When she was 14 she won an essay competition run by a national newspaper, and that encouraged her to begin her first novel. Several chapters into it, she decided she didn’t have the necessary skills and experience to write a book just yet, so instead put her authorship on hold for 40 years.

Gretchen and her husband have their three adult children living close by, along with their babies, pets and continuous busy projects. Gretchen says:

Life is a whirl of happenings, which should culminate in great writing material if one could only find time….

And so we escape out to sea, Des and I. Somehow the hours spent there seem to slow down, become longer. The tides change in a regular, tidy patter, the sky paints itself day or night according to its expected routine. Accused that I write about the sea a lot, I can see that it is true, and I think I know why.

Selected bibliography:

• Attacked (Scholastic 1999).
• Riding the Rough (Scholastic 1999).
• Mayday! (Scholastic 2000).
• Skull Island illustrated by Jeffy James (Scholastic 2001).
• Paperchase (Scholastic 2006).

Awards:

• Storylines Notable Books 2000 Junior Fiction list for Attacked.
• Storylines Notable Books 2001 Junior Fiction list for Mayday.
• Storylines Notable Books 2002 Junior Fiction list for Skull Island.
• Storylines Notable Books 2007 Young Adult Fiction list for Paperchase.