Belinda O'Keefe
Belinda O’Keefe has a degree in Japanese, and worked in the tourism industry before changing career paths to focus on the exciting world of literature, studying book editing, proofreading and publishing. She adores books, and loves reading so much that she does it for a living! She’s the sub-editor of Latitude Magazine and a freelance copy editor.
Belinda was born in Greymouth, and moved to Canterbury when she was six. She grew up surrounded by books, learning that no tale is too tall to tell. She now lives in Christchurch with her husband, two boys and two cats, who all give her great inspiration for her writing.
Belinda took part in the Storylines National Story Tour 2022 which was the highlight of her writing journey so far, travelling to 13 different schools across the West Coast of the South Island, sharing her love of books and storytelling. She loves visiting schools and firing up a passion for reading and writing in future storytellers of Aotearoa.
Awards
Shortlisted for the Storylines Joy Cowley Award in 2016, 2017 and 2021
Finalist for the 2020 NZ Book Awards ‘Best First Book’ Award for The Day the Plants Fought Back
Winner of the 2020 Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award for junior novel Partners in Slime
Highly Commended in the 2021 Notable Book Awards for Partners in Slime
Named a Top Children’s Book for 2022 in the NZ Listener for Journey Through the Cat Door
Publications
2019 The Day the Plants Fought Back, Scholastic NZ
2020 The Bakery Bird, ‘Orbit’ The School Magazine Australia
2020 The Day Our Mum Went Crazy, ‘Blast Off’ The School Magazine Australia
2020 The Leaky Creaky Cottage, ‘Countdown’ The School Magazine Australia
2021 Partners in Slime, Scholastic NZ
2022 Journey Through the Cat Door, Bateman Books
2023 You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are/Me i Mōhio koe ki tō Waimarietanga, Oratia Media
Genre:
- Children's Fiction
Skills:
- Editing
- Proofreading
- Readings
Branch:
Canterbury
Location:
Christchurch
Publications:
The Day the Plants Fought Back
An action-packed, hilarious story about two wild, rascally boys and the trouble they cause in the garden, until the plants decide to teach them a lesson ... because, as the boys discover, plants have eyes and ears too!
Partners in Slime
Best mates Jake and Cooper are doing a roaring trade at school, selling tubs of homemade slime, saving their money for a ride on the new roller coaster at Adrenalin World … until Jake’s sister begins selling a superior product. But when the boys (with the help of a scientist uncle) invent a new ‘magnetic neon gloop’ that becomes all the rage, things start to go awry when it begins to grow and morph into who-knows-what. Jake and Cooper have to try to recover all the tubs of gloop, before havoc breaks loose. But are they too late?
Journey Through the Cat Door
Enzo the Russian blue gets the fright of his life when he is pushed through his new cat door. Instead of emerging out into his back yard, he finds himself in a strange forest, confronted by an angry bear. He soon learns that the cat door is a portal to other countries, and he becomes caught up in a mission to defeat the evil villain Professor Olga Stone, a wicked master chef who is capturing endangered animals from all over the world to cook and serve to her customers. This rollicking intermediate novel is perfect for anyone curious about exactly what their cat gets up to when it disappears through the cat door.
You Don't Know How Lucky You Are/Me i Mōhio koe ki tō Waimarietanga
When young Izzy moans about unloading the dishwasher, Great-uncle Arthur says, 'You don't know how lucky you are!" He's always done something worse – like dodging arrows in a great battle, or being chased by an angry bull. As the stories get wilder, his great-niece starts to wonder if Arthur may be exaggerating a little ...