Kerry Sunderland
Kerry Sunderland is a freelance journalist, author and editor. Her personal essays have appeared in several anthologies, including Otherhood (Massey University Press 2024), A Liminal Gathering (Elixir & Star Press 2023), Headlands: New Stories of Anxiety (Victoria University Press 2018) and the literary journal, Turbine | Kapohau (2016). Her feature articles and profiles have been published in New Zealand Geographic, NZ Listener, North & South, The Spinoff, Stuff/Nelson Mail and the Byron Echo.
Born in Australia, Kerry has been based in New Zealand since 2012. She has a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Victoria University of Wellington and was joint winner of the 2018 Hachette Mentorship in Australia for her memoir manuscript, Beyond the Blue Door.
Kerry is also the producer and host of Deathwalker's Guide to Life, a radio show/podcast that explores how thinking and talking about death can help you live a life without regrets. She is currently writing her second memoir, which is about her journey to becoming a deathwalker.
She is currently writing her second memoir, which is the story of how she learnt how to talk about the hard stuff and why she trained as a 'death walker'.
Kerry has curated the Nelson Arts Festival's literary programme since 2018. She was a part-time creative writing tutor at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology from 2017 to 2020 and hosts residential writing retreats throughout the year. Find out more at https://kerrysunderlandwriter.com/.
Genre:
- Adult Non-Fiction
- Autobiography / Memoir
- Feature Articles
- Lifestyle
- Mind Body Spirit
Skills:
- Broadcast Journalism
- Editing
- Freelance Writing
- Journalism
- Public Speaking
- Website Content
Branch:
Top of the South
Location:
Motueka
Publications:
Headlands: New Stories of Anxiety
In 2017, Ministry of Health figures showed that one in five New Zealanders sought help for a diagnosed mood or anxiety disorder, and these figures are growing. Headlands: New Stories of Anxiety tells the real, messy story behind these statistics – what anxiety feels like, what causes it, what helps and what doesn’t. These accounts are sometimes raw and confronting, but they all seek to share experiences, remove stigma, offer help or simply shine a light on what anxiety is.
The stories in Headlands are told by people from all walks of life: poets, novelists, and journalists, musicians, social workers, and health professionals, and includes new work from Ashleigh Young, Tusiata Avia, Danyl McLauchlan, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Hinemoana Baker and Kirsten McDougall.
Kerry Sunderland wrote the essay titled 'Scared to Death'.
Edited by journalist Naomi Arnold, and published by Te Herenga Waka University Press in 2018.
Otherhood
INTERROGATING: AM I MOTHER? OR AM I OTHER?
In Aotearoa the number of people who will never have children is growing — and they’re pushing back against the narrative that if they don’t, their lives will be somehow ‘less than’. Otherhood’s essays are by writers who’ve felt on the outside looking in, who’ve lived unexpected lives, and who’ve given the finger to social expectations. Some chose to be childfree, some didn’t get to choose, and some — through bereavement or blended family dynamics — ask themselves: Am I a mother or am I other?
Thought-provoking, moving and often hilarious, Otherhood opens a more inclusive conversation about what makes a fulfilling life.
EDITED BY ALIE BENGE, LIL O’BRIEN AND KATHRYN VAN BEEK