Category: My Life

Grief Hits Hard

Grief March 2019 was a traumatic month here in New Zealand. We are a small nation of 4.7 million people, usually with only 2-3 degrees of separation between us, so the recent act of terrorism, killing fifty people, is still ricocheting though many people’s lives. In the face of such loss, our Prime Minister Jacinda…
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Happy New Year

Christmas flew past on cute dragon’s wings! My kids got me a cute dragon for Christmas. (Those of you who’ve been around my site since 2013, will recognize my old web banner in the background. Yep, I need to update my screen saver!) They deliberately chose a multi-coloured cute dragon so it would look like…
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Check Out the Photos – NZ Launch – Riders of Fire

Riders of Fire Launch Photos We had a great Riders of Fire launch today, with archery, sword fighting, dragon crafts, a treasure hunt and medieval costumes. It was wonderful to see everyone having fun and really cool to share Dragons’ Realm with them. Giant John led us in archery.The target? Well, here he is. I…
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Chatting with Sherri – dragons!

Today, Sunday, at 3pm New Zealand time, or Saturday 7pm Californian time yesterday, I’ll be on air with Sherri Rabinowitz on her show on Chatting with Sherri, hosted at BlogTalk Radio. It like being a time-traveller, speaking on radio today and knowing that people in America will be hearing us yesterday! Yeah, we kiwis always laugh…
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Eileen on Blog Talk Radio

Radio host Sherri Rabinowitz interviewed me on Blog Talk Radio  about winning a Sir Julius Vogel Award, my books, dragons, and my real passion in life. We also had fun discussing interactive fiction, strategies for dealing with bullying, kids’ literacy and literary festivals. It was  blast. Please download the podcast here. I hope you enjoy…
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Dragons with Lee Murray

Interviewed by Lee Murray   Talking dragons is one of my favourite past-times. Okay, and reading, writing and flying on dragons too… Whatever, dragons are cool. My middle-grade dragon fiction caught the attention of Lee Murray who has won five Sir Julius Vogel Awards and an Australasian Shadows Award for writing and editing.   On…
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2016 Sir Julius Vogel Awards

The short list for the 2016 Sir Julius Vogel Awards has been out for  a while. Although I’ve been very busy writing and have neglected to post this earlier, I’m very excited to be a finalist in two categories!  Dragons Realm is shortlisted for Best Youth Novel  I’ve also been shortlisted for Best New Talent.…
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Storylines Family Day – Antarctica Zone

    Storylines Family Day Michael Fowler Centre Wellington Sunday 24 August 10am-3pm Shackleton Bear Goes South. Well, he’s actually come north, all the way from Christchurch to be with us for Storylines Family Day in Wellington! Author John McCrystal has gone all out to bring you a wonderful Antarctica Zone for Storylines Family Day. We’ve…
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Storylines Family Day – Monster Fun Zone

Storylines Family Day, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, Sunday 24 August, 10am-3pm At Storylines Family Day there’s a great Monster Fun Zone.Three of this year’s featured authors had books about Monsters so we decided to let everyone enjoy the fun!             There are two Monster Parades with our monster authors judging,…
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Storylines Family Day – Wellington

Storylines Family Day is coming to town! What is Storylines Family Day? A fun action-packed day of bringing books to life for kids (old and young.) I’ve been coaxing stuffed penguins out of Te Papa, cajoling entomologists to let their precious bug and spider collections see the light of day, mingling with monsters, sweet-talking soldiers,…
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