Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust of New Zealand | Te Whare Waituhi Tamariki o Aotearoa
Melinda Szymanik writes picture books, short stories and novels for children and young adults. Her picture book, The Were-Nana, won the New Zealand Post Children’s Choice Award in 2009, was a Storylines Notable Book in the same year, and was shortlisted for the 2010 Sakura Medal. Her fourth novel, A Winter’s Day in 1939, also a Storylines Notable Book (2014), won Librarian’s Choice at the 2014 LIANZA Awards. Her picture book Fuzzy Doodle (Scholastic 2016) was a 2017 Storylines Notable Book, a finalist in the 2017 NZCYA Book Awards and a 2017 White Ravens book. Her most recent titles are the picture books Moon and Sun (Upstart Press, 2021), and My Elephant is Blue (Puffin, 2021).
When she is not writing, Melinda likes reading, baking (especially with chocolate), going to the movies, and travelling with her family. She has three grown-up children, a cat and a husband and lives in Mt Eden with a view of the mountain from her study.
Melinda teaches creative writing workshops for adults and children, blogs regularly on writing and is one of ten New Zealand writers who run an innovative online writing experiment for children called FABO Story.
Picture Books
Junior Novels
Junior Short Story Collection
Young Adult Novels
Short Story anthologies that include Melinda’s work