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Leonie Agnew

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Leonie Agnew is a children's writer and teacher. Several of her books have been shortlisted for or won awards, including the Tom Fitzgibbon Award in 2010, the Junior Fiction Section, the Children's Choice Junior Fiction section and the Best First Book Award of the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 2012, the Master of the Inkpot Competition in 2015 and the Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2022. She has also been the recipient of a writing residency at the University of Otago. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

Biography

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Leonie Agnew was born in Auckland[1] and grew up in Howick. She attended Baradene College for four years, then Howick College for a year.[2][3] She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Graduate Diploma in Teaching,[4] has worked as an advertising copywriter and is now a writer, primary school teacher and creative writing tutor, living in Auckland.[1][4][5]

She lists some of her favourite children's writers as Frank Cottrell Boyce, Patrick Ness, Margaret Mahy, Roald Dahl and James Norcliffe,[1] naming Norcliffe's novel The Loblolly Boy in particular.[6]

Several of her books have been shortlisted for or have won awards. She has also had work published in the New Zealand School Journal[7] and broadcast on Radio New Zealand.[8] She has appeared at a number of festivals and literary events including the 2015 Waiheke Literary Festival[9] and the 2018 Auckland Writers Festival.[10]

Leonie Agnew joined the Storylines Management Committee in 2016[11] and helped organise the Storylines National Children's Writers and illustrators’ Hui in Auckland in 2017.[12] She was Chair of the organising committee for the Storylines New Zealand Writers and Illustrators’ Hui in Auckland in 2022.[13]

Awards and Prizes 

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Leonie Agnew won the Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award in 2010.[14] This led to the publication of her first book, Super Finn, which went on to win the Junior Fiction Section, the Children's Choice Junior Fiction section and the Best First Book Award in the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 2012.[3] It was also included in the Storylines Notable Book Awards 2012[15] and shortlisted for the LIANZA Children's Book Awards 2012.[5]

The Importance of Green (a picture book) was shortlisted for the Joy Cowley Award.[16]

Conrad Cooper’s Last Stand (about a young Pākehā boy and the Bastion Point occupation) won the Esther Glen Medal in the 2015 awards.[5] Leonie Agnew traces the initial idea for this book back to a tutorial on racial identity with Samoan writer Albert Wendt during her university studies.[17]

In 2015, Leonie Agnew won the Master of the Inkpot Competition run by UK publisher David Fickling Books with her manuscript The Impossible Boy.[5][18] The resulting book was a finalist in the Junior Fiction Section of the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2017.[19]

In 2013, she was the University of Otago College of Education / Creative New Zealand Children's Writer in Residence.[16]

The Memory Thief won the Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction in the 2022 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.[20][21][22]

Leonie Agnew won the Storylines Tessa Duder Award in 2022 with her young adult manuscript "The impossible story of Hannah Kemp".[23]

Bibliography 

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Super Finn (Scholastic, 2011)

The Importance of Green (Penguin Random House, 2013)

Conrad Cooper's Last Stand (Penguin Random House, 2014)

The Impossible Boy (Penguin Random House, 2016)

The Memory Thief (Puffin, 2021)

The Impossible Story of Hannah Kemp (Walker Books, 2023)

[edit]
  • Profile of Leonie Agnew on Read NZ Te Pou Muramura website
  • Interview with Leonie Agnew on Christchurch City Libraries website

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Interview with Leonie Agnew". Christchurch City Libraries: Nga Kete Wananga-o-Otautahi. 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  2. ^ "Alumni: Success beyond School". Howick College. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Super Finn win for Howick teacher". NZ herald. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Tutors: Leonie Agnew". Selwyn Community Education. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d "Leonie Agnew". Storylines. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  6. ^ "My favourite NZ books – Leonie Agnew". Christchurch Kids Blog. 28 March 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  7. ^ Agnew, Leonie. "School Journal Level 2 August 2018: The Perfect Presentation". TKI Te Kete Ipurangi. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  8. ^ "Ophelia Steals the Show by Leonie Agnew". RNZ. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  9. ^ "Leonie Agnew: Children's Author". Waiheke Literary Festival. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  10. ^ "2018 Programmes: Writers: Leonie Agnew". Auckland Writers Festival. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  11. ^ "Storylines Management Committee profiles". Storylines. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  12. ^ Agnew, Leonie (30 August 2017). "Storylines Hui: Where Islands Connect". The Sapling. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  13. ^ "New Zealand Children's Writers and Illustrators' National Hui, Auckland, July 2022". Storylines Children's Literature Charitable Trust of New Zealand Te Whare Waituhi tamariki o Aotearoa. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  14. ^ Beattie, Graham (29 March 2010). "South Auckland author wins Storylines award for first-time writers". Beattie's Book Blog. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  15. ^ "Notable Books List 2012". Storylines. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  16. ^ a b Smith, Charmian (23 May 2013). "Living a lie". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  17. ^ Cawley, Rose (24 June 2015). "Auckland author nabs prestigious award". Stuff. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  18. ^ "Inkpot: THE IMPOSSIBLE BOY by Leonie Agnew". David Fickling Books. 3 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  19. ^ "Finalists announced for NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2017". New Zealand Listener. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  20. ^ "New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults: 2022 Awards". NZ Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  21. ^ "New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults: 2022 Awards". NZ Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  22. ^ "Author clinches another award". Times Online. 17 August 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  23. ^ "Storylines Tessa Duder Award: award background". Storylines Children's Literature Charitable Trust of New Zealand Te Whare Waituhi Tamariki o Aotearoa. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
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