Who of the birds will donate their feathers for a cloak to keep Gecko warm in winter?
Ben Brown (Author)
Ben Brown (Ngati Mahuta, Ngati Koroki, Ngati Paoa) is an acclaimed
writer, poet, performer and publisher who lives in Lyttelton, New
Zealand. He was born in Motueka, New Zealand, in 1962, has
previously worked as a tobacco farm labourer, market gardener and
tractor driver, and has been writing and publishing since 1992.
Brown is the author of an evocative memoir, A Fish in the Swim of
the World, a number of children's books, non-fiction works, and
short stories for children and adults, many of which have strong
New Zealand nature themes.
Many of his children's books are illustrated by the Lyttelton
author and illustrator Helen Taylor. Their te reo edition of
Fifty-Five Feathers - Nga Raukura Rima Tekau Ma Rima - (2004) was
shortlisted for the 2005 LIANZA Book Awards; the English-language
edition was shortlisted for the 2005 Russell Clark Award. A Booming
in the Night won Best Picture Book at the 2006 New Zealand Post
Children's Book Awards and was a 2006 Storylines Notable Picture
Book.
The New Zealand Post judges report described A Booming in the Night
as 'a captivating, polished and deceptively simple package - a
pictorially stunning book with an educational message that also
manages to capture the cheeky personality of one of our endangered
bird species'. The book also made the 2006 Storylines Notable
Picture Book list.
Denis Welch, reviewing the autobiographical A Fish in the Swim of
the World in The New Zealand Listener, found it 'a cut above most
autobiographies, giving us a vivid picture of hard-working rural
life and a wonderful portrait gallery of farm people and family
characters'. The book has been recorded by, and aired on, Radio NZ
National.
Brown has said of his memoir- 'A Fish in the Swim of the World
operates on the premise that ordinary people have worthwhile and
interesting stories to tell. Characters and events that shape them
seem somehow within reach. We can empathise with them. We can
engage. There is the notion that a life lived in a certain way has
meaning, has significance, though it may not change the world, nor
even ripple its waters. And there is a desire to explore a uniquely
New Zealand experience within these ideas.'
Brown was awarded the 2011 Maori Writers' Residency at the Michael
King Writers' Centre.`
In 2020 Brown delivered a lecture titled If Nobody Listens Then No
One Will Know for the annual Read NZ Te Pou Muramura Panui and
edited How the F* Did I Get Here, an anthology of poetry written by
young people at an Oranga Tamariki Youth Justice Residence
facility, who had taken part in his writing workshop.
In 2021 Ben Brown was appointed as the inaugural Te Awhi Rito New
Zealand Reading Ambassador for children and young people, a role
which advocates for and champions the importance of reading in the
lives of young New Zealanders, their whanau, and communities.
Helen Taylor (Author, Illustrator)
Helen Taylor is an award-winning children's book illustrator and an
exhibiting artist with works in private collections around New
Zealand and overseas.
She has been illustrating books since 1992 and has been twice
shortlisted for the LIANZA Children's Book Awards. In 2006, Helen
won Best Picture Book in the New Zealand Post Book Awards for
Children and Young Adults, with A Booming in the Night, a
collaboration with writer Ben Brown. Helen has also written and
illustrated a number of picture books and in 2015 her book Kakapo
Dance won a Storylines Notable Picture Book Award.
Helen lives in an old yellow house on a red-boned hill in the
portside town of Lyttelton.
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