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Maria Gill

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Maria Gill
BornOctober 1961
Auckland, New Zealand
OccupationWriter
NationalityNew Zealand
Website
mariagill.co.nz

Maria Gill is a writer of children's non-fiction books, educational resources and freelance articles. A number of her books have been shortlisted for or have won awards, including Anzac Heroes which won the Non-fiction Award and the Supreme Book of the Year prize in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2016. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

Biography

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Maria Gill was born in October 1961 in Auckland, New Zealand.[1] She was educated at schools in Auckland and Southport, Gold Coast, and also studied by correspondence while her family was living in a caravan and travelling around Australia.[2] After leaving school and doing office work for a few years, Maria worked in a variety of jobs, including barmaid, nanny, shepherdess and grape picker, while she travelled overseas,[3][4] visiting countries such as England, India, Nepal and China.[5] She returned to New Zealand and studied at the University of Auckland and Auckland College of Education,[6] graduating with a Bachelor of Education degree and Teaching Diploma. She taught for about ten years in primary and intermediate schools.[2] Later she also gained a Graduate Diploma of Journalism Studies from Massey University.[5] In 2021 Gill completed a master's degree at Auckland University of Technology.[7]

Maria had wanted to write from childhood and first began to do so seriously when her children were small.[2] She has a special interest in themes to do with native wildlife, conservation and the environment, people, history and war.[6][8] She has also written many books and resources for the educational market.[9]

In 2013-2014, Maria lectured and tutored a Writing for Children paper for Massey University.[10] She co-wrote the Coursera online course Writing for Young Readers: Opening the Treasure Chest for the Commonwealth Education Trust.[11] She also organised two touring exhibitions of displays about war-related children's books: What Lies Beneath, which travelled around New Zealand,[12] and Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages, which featured in libraries in Brisbane, Newcastle, Canberra, Hobart and other parts of Australia.[13][14][15]

Maria visits schools as part of the Writers in Schools programme and is a popular speaker at literary festivals. She appeared at the SCBWI conference, Sydney, 2012 and 2016[4] and the Auckland Writers Festival in 2018.[16] She gives author talks and workshops for several Speakers’ Agencies in New Zealand and Australia.[17]

Awards and prizes 

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Many of her books have been selected as Storylines Notable Books and shortlisted for awards such as the LIANZA Elsie Locke Non-Fiction Award and the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards.

New Zealand Hall of Fame won the Children's Choice Award in the non-fiction category of the 2012 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards,[18] and Anzac Heroes won the Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction and the Supreme Book of the Year prize in the 2016 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.[19] In 2020 she was awarded the Margaret Mahy Medal in recognition of her lifetime contribution to children's literature.[20]

Bibliography 

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  • Queen of the Cosmos: Beatrice Hill Tinsley ill. Alistair Hughes (Upstart Press, 2024)
  • The King's Medal ill. Alistair Hughes (Upstart Press, 2021)
  • Remarkable Animal Stories from New Zealand and Australia ill. Emma Huia Lovegrove (Scholastic, 2021)
  • New Zealand Disasters: Our response, resilience and recovery ill. Marco Ivancic (Scholastic, 2021)
  • Ice Breaker! ill. Alistair Hughes (Upstart Press, 2020)
  • On the Brink (New Holland, 2019)
  • Kate Sheppard: Leading the way for Women (Scholastic, 2018)
  • Earthquakes! Shaking New Zealand (New Holland, 2018)
  • Anzac Animals (Scholastic, 2018)
  • Toroa’s Journey (Potton & Burton, 2017)
  • Abel Tasman: Mapping the Southern Lands (Scholastic, 2017)
  • Volcanoes: DK Find Out! (Dorling & Kindersley, 2016)
  • Anzac Heroes ill. Marco Ivancic (Scholastic, 2016)
  • New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame ill. Marco Ivancic (New Holland, 2014)
  • Operation Nest Egg Chick ill. Bruce Potter (Long White Cloud Books, 2014; Pixel Books, 2013)
  • The Last of Maui’s Dolphins ill. Bruce Potter (New Holland, 2014)
  • Running Our Country: A look inside New Zealand’s Government ill. Malcolm Evans (New Holland, 2013, reprinted 2018)
  • Eruption! Discovering New Zealand Volcanoes (New Holland, 2012)
  • The Call of the Kokako ill. Heather Arnold (New Holland, 2011)
  • New Zealand’s Hall of Fame: 50 Remarkable Kiwis ill. Bruce Potter (New Holland, 2011)
  • Rangitoto ill. Heather Arnold (Penguin, 2009; Long White Cloud Books, 2014; Pixel Books, 2013)
  • Save Our Seas ill. Vivienne Lingard (New Holland, 2009)
  • Eco-agents mission: Save our Planet (New Holland, 2009)
  • Dogs on the Job (Reed, 2008)
  • Operation Nest Egg (Reed, 2007)
  • Bird’s-eye View (Penguin Books, 2006)

References

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  1. ^ "Maria Gill". Storylines. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Authors & Illustrators: Maria Gill". Scholastic. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  3. ^ "Mansfield Questionnaire: Maria Gill". New Zealand Book Council Te Kaunihera Pukapuka o Aotearoa. 30 August 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  4. ^ a b "The Resumé". Maria Gill: children's author, freelance writer. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  5. ^ a b Gill, Maria (December 2011). "Following my Instincts". Defining NZ (20): 34–37.
  6. ^ a b "Gill, Maria". New Zealand Book Council Te Kaunihera Pukapuka o Aotearoa. June 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  7. ^ Gill, Maria (2021). A Lonely Courage Behind Enemy Lines (Masters thesis). Tuwhera Open Access, Auckland University of Technology. hdl:10292/13987.
  8. ^ "Writer Interview: Maria Gill and Glyn Harper". The Sapling. 14 March 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  9. ^ "Maria Gill". The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc) Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  10. ^ "Maria Gill". Virtual Learning Network. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  11. ^ "Writing for Young Readers: Opening the Treasure Chest". Manatu Taonga: Ministry for Culture & Heritage. 29 July 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  12. ^ "What Lies Beneath: the exhibition: showcasing the inspiration behind children's books". What Lies Beneath. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  13. ^ "Home". Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages exhibition. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  14. ^ Masson, Sophie (7 November 2016). "Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages Exhibition and my part in it". Feathers of the Firebird: Sophie Masson's writing blog. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  15. ^ Landsberry, Belinda (23 April 2017). "'Anzac Ted' part of the 2017 'Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages' exhibition". Belinda Landsberry: author & illustrator. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  16. ^ "Writers: Maria Gill". Auckland Writers Festival. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  17. ^ "Our Speakers: Maria Gill". Speakers Ink. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  18. ^ "New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – HELL Children's Choice Award". Christchurch City Libraries Nga Kete Wananga-o-Otautahi. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  19. ^ "New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults: Past Winners: by Year". NZ Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  20. ^ "Gill wins 2020 Margaret Mahy Medal". Books+Publishing. 6 February 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
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