Frances is an early childhood literature consultant (Vital Years) and literary agent, representing a growing list of New Zealand children’s writers and illustrators. She is the New Zealand contact for the Australian/New Zealand chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). For many years she was a specialist children’s librarian for Waitakere Libraries and has been a reviewer for Quote Unquote, Magpies, Family Times and the specialist early childhood magazine Littlies.

Winner of a Winston Churchill Fellowship in 1989 and the Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award for services to children’s literature in 2006, she has been both convenor and judge for the LIANZA Esther Glen and Russell Clark awards, and New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. She was a long-standing member of the CLA (Children’s Literature Association) and served on the Storylines Foundation (now Friends of Storylines Nga Pou o te Whare Waituhi Tamariki o Aotearoa) management committee from 1990 to 2005 and Storylines Festival committee from 1993-2005, including many years as Story Tour coordinator. Frances was  a Storylines Trustee from the Trust’s inception in 2005 until 2021.

See also Frances’ 2006 Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award lecture.