A.J. Rush is based between Auckland's Titirangi and  Motueka in the top of the South. She started writing with diaries as a young girl before majoring in English Lit for her BA at the University of Auckland & completing a Post Grad Diploma in Journalism at AUT. Since then, her career has spanned broadcast journalism, natural history television research/producing, non-fiction book writing, Communications & PR. Her feature articles have appeared in numerous publications including in Canvas, the NZ Listener, and the Sunday Star-Times. Most recently she’s been a Senior Writer for creative arts publication The Big Idea. She is currently completing her Master of Creative Writing at the University of Auckland and is writing 'Going Under' - a coming-of-age memoir focused on a sailing adventure 21-year-old AJ took with her then-boyfriend Jon and four other Kiwis from New Zealand to Indonesia during the Pacific sailing season of 1992. The yacht, a 52-foot ketch called Manureva, was a salvaged wreck. Sailors’ superstition warns never to salvage a wreck and this belief perhaps transformed an anticipated sea adventure into an ill-fated voyage. Three disturbing incidents followed, including a ferocious shark attack. This is AJ’s version of the voyage and the events which unfolded, including her rescue by the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

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