Erin Donohue

My name is Erin Donohue. I am a poet, novelist and editor living in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa. My book Because Everything Is Right but Everything is Wrong (Escalator Press, 2017) was a finalist in two categories in the 2018 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and it centres around mental illness, high school and being a teen with the whole world stretched out in front of you. I have been featured in the Auckland Writers Festival, the Nelson Readers and Writers Festival and Verb in Wellington. My novel has been studied in high school English classes around the country and my poem Slideshow was included in the 2022 NCEA level one nationwide English exam. I write about illness, perception, disability, love, body image and fear and am currently working on a collection of personal essays. I like taking pictures of the clouds, therapy, barbershop and my cat Maura, who is named after a Love Island contestant. I am my most authentic self when I am riding my moped on a sunny day or swimming in the sea, in any weather. I am writing weekly on my Substack: https://oldestwisestself.substack.com


Genre:

  • Adult Non-Fiction
  • Autobiography / Memoir
  • Fiction
  • Poetry
  • Young Adult

Skills:

  • Editing
  • Freelance Writing
  • Manuscript Assessment
  • Mentoring
  • Novelist
  • Poetry Readings
  • Proofreading
  • Public Speaking
  • Readings
  • Readings (adults)

Branch:

Wellington

Location:

Wellington

Publications:


Because Everything Is Right but Everything Is Wrong

Can you be lost and not know it? Can other people stop you from being lost? Seventeen-year-old Caleb’s world is disintegrating, his walls are closing in, his sky is threatening to fall. He’s barely holding on. To deadlines. To friends. To family. To mum. To Pat. But he has Casey. Maybe she can save him …