Leonie Agnew

Since then she has written two more novels, The Importance of Green and Conrad Cooper’s Last Stand (winner of the 2015 Esther Glen Medal). In 2015 she was chosen as the winner of the Master of the Inkpot Competition run by prestigious UK children’s publisher David Fickling Books for her manuscript, The Impossible Boy.  A former advertising copywriter, Leonie works as both writer and primary school teacher.

Helen Beckingsale

Helen, MA (Hons), has been a Storylines representative on several Story Tours in 2020-2021. She was a librarian at Auckland Libraries, including the Young Adult book selection, and reference librarian including on the AnyQuestions online homework service; she was previously Children’s Librarian at East Coast Bays Library and worked in customer services at Takapuna Library.

Pearl DSilva (Membership secretary)

Pearl DSilva has been a lecturer in Early Childhood Education for the last 17 years in India and in New Zealand. She has a Master's degree in Human Development (with early childhood education as a focus). Her research interests and academic publications include children's literature, creative thinking and play in early childhood contexts. She has also presented academic papers at national and international conferences in ECE and children’s literature such as at The 35th IBBY Congress held in Auckland in 2016. Pearl also enjoys reviewing books and creating book lists across a range of themes for children, parents and teachers to enjoy and some of these have been published by The Sapling. She is an aspiring author and recalls filling notebooks with stories and illustrations since she was six! Pearl can usually be found at the topmost rung of the Ladder on The Faraway Tree, anticipating new lands and opportunities to share her love of children's literature!

Tessa Duder

Tessa Duder was a founding member of Storylines’ forerunner, the Children’s Book Foundation begun in 1989. Her 40-odd books for both adults and children include novels, short stories, 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.    Her books, notably the Alex quartet, have won multiple prizes. Other awards include the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal, the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship and the Artists in Antarctic fellowship, the CNZM and OBE, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Waikato. In 2020 she won the Prime Minister’s Award for Fiction. Tessa is a long-standing member of the Storylines Children’s Literature Trust and the Friends of Storylines Nga Pou o Te Whare Waituhi Tamariki o Aotearoa Management Committee. See also Tessa's author profile. 

Stuart Fleming

When Stuart was a teenager, he adored books and won a local poetry contest. When he was in his forties, he remembered he loved writing and earned a Bachelor of Arts (Creative Writing) from Massey University. In between, he collected cool work stories in hospitality, media, coaching, training, and earthquake recovery. Stuart solo hiked almost the length of New Zealand and held the senior-most uniformed volunteer role for Scouts Aotearoa.
Today, Stuart facilitates resilience, well-being, and literacy/numeracy programmes for workplace teams, plus enjoys a select few copywriting assignments. And – as you might expect – he has several children’s manuscripts in progress, each waiting patiently for the attention it deserves.
Stuart joined the Storylines Management Committee to help foster children’s love of literature and find books they will forever adore.

Annemarie Hartley (Storylines Notable Books Convenor)

Vanessa Hatley-Owen

Vanessa was a daydreaming child whose nose was permanently stuck in a book. Now, as a keen writer of stories for children, she has been published by Oratia, Sunshine Books and Learning Media, and has also been shortlisted for both the Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon and Storylines Joy Cowley awards. She has reviewed books for Kids Books NZ and in 2018 was a recipient of a New Zealand Society of Authors mentorship. She has several manuscripts in various stages of completion, and in her day job, she is a librarian in a primary school; which means she gets to talk to children about books all day!

Kaaren Hirst (Chair)

Kaaren joined Storylines as she saw the need for those of us in the library profession to support children's literature, in particular New Zealand's. "We have such an amazing pool of talent and our tāmariki are the richer for engaging with our authors and illustrators. I have been fortunate to help at many Storylines Festivals in the past and have been thrilled with the response to our current Storylines Story Tours that take our talented authors and illustrators into our regions."

Kaaren has worked in education libraries, both university and secondary school, for 38 years. During her professional life she has always advocated for school libraries and their provision in New Zealand schools. This resulted in her becoming a Life member of SLANZA in 2015. As part of this advocacy she has also represented support staff in schools on the NZEI National Leadership group for Support Staff (SSNCKT) twice, and currently chairs the NZEI Auckland Regional Council.

Kaaren was convener of SLANZA’s Auckland regional committee for seven years and co-convener of the SLANZA national conference held in 2011 at St Cuthbert’s College. She volunteered at Storylines Family Festival Days for many years, and chaired the Storylines Festival national committee.

Anne Kayes

Anne Kayes originally taught English and Drama in secondary schools. In 2014, she completed a Master of Creative Writing at AUT. She won the 2016 Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award with Tūī Street Tales, a collection of inter-linked stories for 8-12-year-olds, published by Scholastic. The sequel, Tūī Street Heroes, published by Wildling Books, received a 2020 Storylines Notable Book Award. Her first young adult novel, In Our Own Back Yard, is published in July 2021 by Bateman Publishing.

After combining tertiary teaching and writing for many years, Anne now divides her time between writing and author visits to schools. She also runs writing workshops for students and teachers.

Libby Limbrick

Dr Libby Limbrick, B.A, Diptch MA. Hons, PhD, MNZM, has been involved in literacy education for over 30 years. She was a Principal Lecturer, and Head of the School of Arts, Languages and Literacy in the Faculty of Education, University of Auckland for over 20 years. Her research and publication field is in language and literacy education, with a special interest in children’s literature and its essential role in literacy. Libby was the first chair of Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust of New Zealand Te Whare Waituhi Tamarkiki o Aotearoa, and is a member of the Storylines Trust Board and the Storylines Management Committee. She was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to education and literacy in 2015.

Bridget Mahy

Bridget Mahy teaches English at Epsom Girls’ Grammar in Auckland. She grew up in libraries and as a consequence has maintained a keen interest in children’s literature. She is a Director of Mayhem Multimedia which oversees the management of the late Margaret Mahy’s body of work.

Helen Villers (Minutes Secretary)