New Zealand Women Writers

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In this topic we look at New Zealand women writers. Women have long had a profile among the acknowledged writers published in New Zealand. Among the first of the New Zealand women writers to be recognised were Janet Frame and Katherine Mansfield. More recently Keri Hulme and Patricia Grace have brought a Māori perspective to this art. Margaret Mahy and Joy Cowley are well known to New Zealand students from the time that they enter school. These writers are having an increasing influence on todayís readers. We encourage you to find out more about our influential writers and their art form using these online resources.

Suggested curriculum links:

English	Reading and Writing Process	Thinking Critically	Levels 1-8
		Processing Information	Levels 1-8
	Personal Reading		Levels 3-8
	Close Reading		Levels 5-7
	Transactional Writing		Levels 3-8
Social Studies	The Inquiry Process		Levels 1-8
	Resources & Economic Activity	Objective 2	Level 1,5&6
	Time, Continuity & Change	Objective 2	Level 3
	Place & Environment	Objective 2	Level 3
Technology	Technological Knowledge & Understanding	Objective 3	Levels 1-8
	Technological Capability	Objectives 5&6	Levels 1-4
	(Writing books)

Suggested Activities: The process of publishing

Students could each explore one writer and their work and present their findings to the class. This could be orally or as an audio/visual presentation using taped extracts, OHPs or a computer slideshow.

The craft of writing

Using the links below to find texts, teachers could read a selection of profiles or extracts to their class and encourage students to visit the bookmarked sites and find out information they want to know about a favourite author.

In Social Studies students could be looking at the contribution writers make to the recording of history, the values and practices of people of that time.

Useful links on the topic are:

A Celebration of Women Writers
This site also provides another selection of short stories by Katherine Mansfield. The main site gives online access to the works of women writers worldwide.

Auckland University
In this section of the Auckland University site, you will find information, bibliographies and articles about New Zealand authors.

New Zealand Society of Authors
Official site of the New Zealand writers' Society.