Fleur Beale is an award winning writer of young adult books. In 2011 she won the YA category of the NZ Post Awards, has twice won the LIANZA award, twice won the Gaelyn Gordon award for a much loved book, was the recipient of the Margaret Mahy medal in 2012, has 16 listings in the Storylines Notable Books and in 2015 received an ONZM for services to literature.

Most of her 50 plus books are aimed at the young adult age group although she has written books for younger children as well. Her one book for adults, Sins of the Father is the biography of Phil Cooper, son of Neville Cooper aka Hopeful Christian the founder of the Gloriavale sect.

Fleur’s experience as a secondary school English teacher sparked her desire to write New Zealand stories for New Zealand young people. She believes it’s essential for students of all ages to see their own lives and experiences reflected in books. Her first published book was Slide the Corner written in the hope of enticing reluctant students, especially boys to read it. She has written other books based around a motor sport designed to appeal to boys. The most recent one of these being Speed Freak.

Some of her books include the Esther series: I am not Esther, I am Rebecca and Being Magdalene. The other trilogy is the Juno series: Juno of Taris, Fierce September and Heart of Danger. The most recent publication, Lyla, was written for the Australian series Through My Eyes – Natural Disaster Zones.

 

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