Diana Harris (née Harkness) was born in Auckland and grew up in Christchurch. At the age of 10 she found she liked writing stories and decided she wanted to be a writer, but this was not to be until much later.

At the University of Canterbury she gained an MA with First Class Honours in French and New Zealand literature, and lectured for a short time before travelling to France to study at the University of Grenoble. From here she went to London and worked in the office for a company operating hotel barge cruises in France. On her return to New Zealand, in Auckland she gained a position as an editor with Heinemann Educational Books, and when her children were born she began working as a freelance book editor.

After living overseas she realised what a special country NZ is, and she wanted to find out more about its history, its native trees and plants, and to learn te reo Māori. Because of this, a publisher for whom she was working asked her to write a general knowledge book about the New Zealand: thus The Kiwi Fact Book was born – and also her writing career.

Hearing she was a writer a teacher asked Diana to write a story about a taniwha which could be used in an information kit for schools, and this turned into Guardian of the Bridge. Then someone else suggested a story about recycling, so Litterbugs was created, in verse this time to make it more fun. For a publisher she wrote a book about weights and measures – Everyday Measures – and for another publisher three miniature books Māori Proverbs, Māori Place Names and Māori Legends; and from 1989-2007 she wrote material for the New Zealand Home Diary.

In the meantime she embarked on the epic Johnny Jones: A Colonial Saga, written firstly as a novel and then as a historical biography, which brings to life happenings in the South Island from the 1820s to the 1860s.

Diana has now written a novel, Howling in the Wilderness,  published in April 2023, which describes events in the North Island during the same period.

 

 

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