Sue Copsey grew up in England, in the town of Rugby. After several years working in London Zoo’s press office, she became a senior editor at Dorling Kindersley Children’s Books. For several years she also wrote a regular wildlife column for the UK national children’s newspaper The Early Times.

Since moving to New Zealand in 1995, Sue has worked as a freelance editor and writer. She has produced more than 50 New Zealand school books and children’s books, including Our Children Aotearoa (2011), which was a Storylines Notable Book. In 2012; her junior fiction novel The Ghosts of Young Nick’s Head was published – the first in a series of spooky adventure stories set in historic New Zealand locations. The second, The Ghosts of Tarawera, was published in 2015 and was listed as a Best Book for Christmas by The New Zealand Herald.

Sue is also an internationally published author of adult fiction, under her pseudonym Olivia Hayfield. Her novels Wife After Wife and Sister to Sister (Penguin US, Hachette UK/Aus/NZ), modern retellings of historical tales, were bestsellers in New Zealand.

Sue is one of the FABO team of children’s writers who run writing competitions for New Zealand schools. She is part of the Read NZ Writers in Schools programme and has participated in the South Auckland Schools programme.

Sue lives in Auckland with her husband and has two grown-up children.