NZSA National Board

NZSA President – Dr Vanda Symon

Dr. Vanda Symon is the Author of the Detective Sam Shephard crime fiction series and the stand-alone thriller The Faceless. Her novels are published internationally. She is a four-time finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Fiction novel and was shortlisted for the British CWA New Blood Dagger award. A Dunedin resident, Vanda produced and hosted a monthly radio show for the Otago Southland The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa called Write On, broadcast on Otago Access Radio for many years. Among the many roles she enjoys, Vanda is the President of The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa, and a writing mentor for the organisation. She was the Chair of Copyright Licensing New Zealand, where she served on the Board for four years. Vanda is a New Zealander of Fijian descent. Website

Perena Quinlivan – Te Māngai Māori ki te Poari Representative

Perena Quinlivan (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Waikato-Tainui) is a Tāmaki Makaurau based writer and founder of Te Puna Consulting, which provides business advisory, management consultancy and project management services. He grew up in Hawkes Bay and graduated from Victoria University of Wellington, the University of Auckland, the University of Sydney, the Australian Graduate School of Management, Te Whare Wananga o Aotearoa, and Te Whare Wananga o Raukawa. Perena has worked in the private sector and in a variety of senior roles in central and local government. His fluency in Bahasa Indonesia enabled him to work both as a New Zealand diplomat and a Sydney-based management consultant in the Asia-Pacific region for several years. Perena is a former recipient of an NZSA mentorship. His poetry has been published in New Zealand journals. He is on Te Kaituhi Māori komiti.

NZSA Next Page National Board Youth representative

Lauren Middleton (Loz) is the best-selling author of the junior fiction book ‘Pippa and the Sheep Snatchers,’ which is on the Whitcoull’s Kids Top 50 book list as of 2026. Her play ‘The Secret’ was also a winner of Auckland Theatre Company’s 100ish-word play competition in 2020. She is currently working on multiple children’s book projects, including an Aotearoa-themed horror and a YA romantic comedy.

Lauren studied Communications at AUT and works as a Creative Strategist for DIY embroidery kit company Clever Poppy. When she isn’t writing, Lauren loves to act, spend time with friends and family and attempt new online recipes.

As the National Youth Representative of the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa, Lauren is passionate about bringing together and fostering a community of young writers through the Next Page network, who can survive and thrive in an ever-changing publishing landscape.

Regional Delegates

Northern Districts Regional Delegate

Madeleine Roberts (Eskedahl) was born and raised in Sweden on the island of Gotland. She has lived in New Zealand for over thirty-five years. Madeleine performs a governance role, as Trustee and a major Shareholder of In-Work NZ Limited, a national Social Services and Employment provider since 2001. This multi-award-winning company is one of the largest privately owned employment service providers to the Ministry of Social Development in New Zealand. Madeleine’s first thriller Blood On Vines (2021) debuted on release at No. 2 on the Kete List, the first instalment in the bestselling Matakana Series. Blood On Vines was also voted onto the Whitcoulls Top 100 list by readers. Rings on Water (2023) is the second crime novel in the series, debuting at No. 2 on the Kete List. In 2024 Madeleine was chosen to be the Author For The Year for the annual One Book, One Community event in the Wairarapa.

Her third crime novel Angels of Clay (2025) debuted at No.1 on Kete. As for her Matakana crime series, she feels that her voice and Scandinavian Noir writing style come from where she grew up on the beautiful and windswept island of Gotland, which in turn perfectly complements her love and appreciation of life in New Zealand.Madeleine is a proud independently published author, who has developed strong and successful relationships in the marketing and distribution of her work. Madeleine has her work represented across major retail chains, and independent bookstores throughout New Zealand. Madeleine’s first two books are traditionally published by Ulverscroft Ltd (UK) in audio and large print formats.

Apart from writing adult crime fiction, she also loves writing for children and was recently awarded the 2025 Storylines Janice Marriot Award. Madeleine is passionate about inclusivity in the creative community and is the funding member and organiser of the Auckland Crime Writers group. She is also part of the committee for the annual Matakana Book Festival, and one of the convenors for the monthly Writer’s Café group north of Auckland.

Mikaela Nyman – Regional Delegate for Central Districts

Mikaela Nyman writes poetry, fiction and non-fiction in Swedish and English. Born on the autonomous and demilitarised Åland Islands into Finland’s linguistic minority of Swedish-speakers, she now lives in Taranaki. She’s a keen collaborator with writers in Melanesia and the Nordic countries. In 2024, Mikaela was the Robert Burns Fellow. In 2021, she was the Writer in Residence for Massey University, Palmerston North City and Square Edge Arts Centre. Both her poetry collections in Swedish were nominated for the prestigious Nordic Council Literary Prize, in 2020 and 2024 respectively.

Her second collection was awarded a major literary prize in 2024 by the Swedish Society of Literature in Finland. The Anatomy of Sand, published by Te Herenga Waka University Press in 2025, is her first poetry collection in English. Her first novel Sado (‘Shadow/Shadows’), set in Vanuatu after the devastating Tropical Cyclone Pam, came out in March 2020 as New Zealand went into pandemic lockdown.

Her work has been set to music and widely anthologised. She was one of twelve poets selected for a musical multi-media performance celebrating 100 years of poetry for the Åland Islands’ centennary in 2022. Mikaela hosts the Sugar Loafing Arts Cast on Access Radio Taranaki 104.4FM. An assessor and mentor for NZSA, she also teaches creative writing. In a past life, she was a diplomat and head of New Zealand’s global humanitarian aid and development aid in Vanuatu. When she doesn’t write, she makes art. Website

Iona Winter – Regional Delegate for Southern Districts

Iona Winter (Waitaha/Kāti Mamoe/Celtic) is a poet, essayist, storyteller and editor. With four published collections of poetry and hybrid fiction, most recently In the shape of his hand lay a river (2024), her work has been anthologised and shortlisted internationally.

In 2022, Iona was awarded the CLNZ/NZSA Writers’ Award for A Counter of Moons, due for publication with Steele Roberts Aotearoa in 2025. She is the founder of Elixir & Star Press, an indie press dedicated to the expression of grief in Aotearoa New Zealand. She holds a Masters in Creative Writing (AUT), is actively involved with writers in Te Wai Pounamu, a committee member with NZSA Top of the South, and has served on several editorial boards, including The Coalition for Books, takahē and Flash Frontier.

Iona’s creative work includes poems spraypainted on fences, collaborative exhibitions with musicians and mixed-media artists, and performances at festivals locally and abroad. When she’s not writing you’ll probably find her in the garden. Iona lives in Reefton, on Aotearoa’s southern West Coast. website

Anna Hoek-Sims – Regional Delegate for Southern Districts

Anna Hoek-Sims (she/her) is a poet originally from Te Papaioea, who is now based in Ōtepoti Dunedin. She has had her poetry published on Turbine | Kapohau, NZ Poetry Society’s a fine line, Corpus, as well as in Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2026, a liminal gathering, Perch, and a liminal gathering 2.

Anna spent some time travelling overseas after finishing her Otago University degree before returning to Ōtepoti. A bookaholic from a very young age, she jumped at the chance to become a Bookseller, and then Retail Manager, at the University Book Shop. She was fortunate to receive a RISE (EU) scholarship to travel to Amiens (France) in 2022 where she interned at la Librarie Martelle, the NZ Emerging Bookseller of the Year award in 2023, and she spent a week in Adelaide for a book internship at Mathilda Bookshop and to attend the Australian Booksellers Association conference.

Anna completed her MA in poetry at the IIML (Institute of Modern Letters) in 2025 while spending Sundays bookselling at Unity Books in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. She enjoys cycling around the coast, learning foreign languages, especially French and Japanese, and loves playing with words, their sounds, and shapes.