"Pull out from the depths those thoughts that you do not understand, and spread them out in the sunlight and know the meaning of them." A Room with a View, E.M. Forster

Donelle McKinley is a creative non-fiction writer based in Dunedin. She is currently writing a memoir about her experiences over three decades with undiagnosed bipolar type II, a story from which is published in the collection ‘Otherhood (Massey University Press, 2024).

Formerly, she was Manager of the Hard to Find Bookshops in Auckland, Marketing Manager for Otago University Press, and Sales Manager for McGraw-Hill Publishing Australia/New Zealand. She has worked as a freelance editor and web writer, and more recently as Manager of Boosted, New Zealand's crowdfunding platform for the arts. She is now self-employed as a contracting information professional for initiatives in publishing, cultural heritage, the arts, and education. 

Donelle holds a Master of Information Studies from Victoria University of Wellington, a BA Honours in English from University of Canterbury, a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Art History from University of Auckland, and a Diploma in Book Publishing, Editing and Proofreading from the New Zealand Institute of Business Studies. Her career highlight is a scholarship to New College, Oxford, where she studied history of the book.

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