Angie Belcher grew up in the Wairarapa, the middle child in a family of seven. Her parents were from a hard-working Italian immigrant family and expected their children to work just as hard. From the age of five Angie was sitting behind the counter in her parent’s shops, eating lollies, reading the comics and quite often not even noticing that customers were waiting. Reading was the perfect escape.

While she was at Teachers College in Palmerston North she discovered her love of adventure: skydiving, SCUBA diving, caving, motorcycling… you name it, she did it. Hooked on adrenalin there was nothing she wouldn’t try. But all of these activities cost money so Angie decided to start writing travel and adventure articles to support her passion.

Those weekend adventures became a source of entertainment and excitement for her students. Realising how much they enjoyed hearing about extreme adventure and noticing how few resources were available she started taking young people on adventures and writing their stories: Samantha’s Sea, The Hole in the Hill,  River Runners, Mountain Bike Mania and many others. Angie looks back now and thinks how trusting the parents of the children were and how privileged she was to work with them.

When Angie and her children moved to Maketu in 1996 her writing changed. She no longer needed the thrill of adventure. The tiny Māori village seeped in history surrounded her in stories. Inspired by flax drying on lines in preparation for being made into piupiu, waka plying through the estuary and locals collecting kai she began to embrace the culture and community and continues to see the area as an endless source of things to celebrate.

Angie’s work is varied and includes Young Adult and Junior Fiction novels, educational text, commissioned and freelance articles, illustrated picture books and writing short plays for children and adults.