Anna Mackenzie

Websitehttp://www.facebook.com/annamackenzie.nz.author
Facebookhttp://www.facebook.com/annamackenzie.nz.author

Award winning novelist Anna Mackenzie wrote her first collection of stories aged 7. Her latest title 'Evie's War', set on WWI's Western Front, was released by Penguin Random House in July 2015. 'Donnel's Promise' (Random House 2014), sequel to the acclaimed 'Cattra's Legacy' (Random House 2014), was chosen by iBooks for its 'Top Five YA Picks of 2014'. Anna's 'Sea-wreck' trilogy - 'The Sea-wreck Stranger' (Longacre 2007), 'Ebony Hill' (Random House 2010) and 'Finder's Shore' (Random House 2011) - won three CLF Notable Book Awards, an NZ Post CYA Honour Award, Sir Julius Vogel Award and White Raven Award in Germany. Anna speaks at festivals and in schools, teaches creative writing and edits magazines. In 2013 she was awarded a writing residency in Belgium by Belgian arts organisation Passa Porta, and in 2014 spoke and taught at the International Festival of the Arts in London. Her earlier titles, all recipients of CLF Notable Book awards, include 'High Tide' (2003), 'Out on the Edge' (2005) and 'Shadow of the Mountain' (2008). Anna is a mentor and manuscript assessor for NZSA. You can read more about her at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Mackenzie_(writer)

Genre:

  • Adult Fiction
  • Fiction
  • Flash Fiction
  • Freelance Writer
  • History
  • Journalism
  • Short Stories
  • Science Fiction
  • Young Adult

Skills:

  • Editing
  • Journalism
  • Manuscript Assessment
  • Novelist
  • Public Speaking
  • Readings
  • Readings (adults)
  • Workshops (adults)
  • Workshops (children/schools)

Branch:

Central Districts

Location:

Hastings

Publications:

Evie's War

They offered up the innocence of a generation... Edwardian England: for Evie, newly arrived from New Zealand, it proves a genteel world of tea parties, tennis and snobbery – and of the burgeoning women's rights movement. As Europe is engulfed in war Evie is drawn into the conflict, moving ever further from the protected world of her childhood. Together with her brother Edmund she must face the reality hidden from those at home, and fight to survive the price the War exacts: of the loss of innocence, of belief, and of love.

Elgard duet: Cattra's Legacy & Donnel's Promise

Absorbing fantasy for young adult readers. When her world is turned upside down, feisty heroine Risha embarks on a journey to discover her father’s past. Instead she finds her future. Caught up in the turbulent politics of a fractured kingdom, Risha must learn the hard way how to trust, when to run, when to stand and fight - but the puzzle she must eventually unravel is that of her own tangled allegiances.

The Sea-wreck trilogy: The Sea-wreck Stranger | Ebony Hill | Finder's Shore

Ness lives on an island cut off from the world, insular and rigid in its views. When she finds the truth of both future and past, she is left with only one choice – but is it one she would have made if she had understood the consequences?

Shadow of the Mountain

Maybe there is no 'right way' to deal with grief. But, just maybe, there’s a wrong one. Geneva's world has been blown apart. All she knows is there's no way back – not to the person she was, not to the family she had. The tragedy that hit Geneva's world did more damage than anyone could have predicted; destroyed more lives than her own. As she struggles to find a way to continue, to reconnect with the life she once had, she finds nothing fits any longer. Her old friends are gone, moved on – or maybe not moved at all. And it turns out she can't help pushing away the people who might be able to help. But some things you just have to do for yourself. Even when they risk your family, your friendships. Even when they risk your life. Maybe we are all destined to repeat the errors of the past.

Out on the Edge

Alison has her life together. There's not much that can faze her. Garry's blown it in a big way – but then, it was never going to turn out any other way, was it? Not with a dad whose alcohol-fuelled rages have been leaving bruises for years. And sooner or later you have to say 'enough'. Don't you? When Alison and Garry's worlds collide, to Alison it seems simple: Garry needs help, and she can give it. But nothing's ever simple. Even so, she’s not the type to stand by and do nothing, even though everyone says it’ll only pull her down. Even though it does.

High Tide

When it comes to life and death, do any of us know how we will behave? Coastal New Zealand provides the setting for a summer hiking trip. The tail-end of a tropical cyclone provides the impetus for things to spiral out of control. After the shocking discovery of just how fast and how badly things can go wrong, Samantha, Jake and Cornelius go for help – but nothing is ever that easy. And, it turns out, no one is quite who they thought they were. Maybe that's lucky. Maybe it changes us forever.