“I said well, I’m going to write. So I sat down and decided to write. I wrote full-time, I wrote eight hours a day, every day, six days a week, seven days a week. For a year and a half.”

Kyle Mewburn is one of New Zealand’s most prolific and eclectic writers. Working full-time as a writer for over twenty years she has published over forty titles, including award-winning picture books and two junior fiction series. She also has a new memoir due out this year.

Kyle served as President of NZSA for four years and is dedicated to the welfare of writers across Aotearoa. In the first of two episodes this season featuring Kyle, she talks with Naomi Arnold about her childhood, dominated by a tough father and her efforts to live as a boy, and the difficult path Kyle committed to in order to develop her remarkable career.

Kyle’s episode is accompanied by a beautiful photo portrait of the writer taken by Naomi Arnold. Season 4 is hosted by New Zealand broadcaster, NZSA member and author Karyn Hay.

This is the fourth season of the NZSA Oral History Podcasts, using author oral histories that NZSA began recording in the 1990’s. You can listen to Season 4 and all past episodes from writers (both living and dead) from previous seasons on our website, Google, Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen (search ‘NZ Society of Authors’).

NZSA would like to thank The Southern Trust for funding this season, and also UNESCO and the Otago Community Trust for the funding to record new oral histories with authors based in Otago.