Philippa Werry is a Wellington writer whose non-fiction, poetry, stories and plays have been widely published, anthologised and broadcast on radio. Her books have been shortlisted for the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in four different categories: picture book (This is Where I Stand, 2021), junior fiction (Enemy at the Gate, 2009, and The Telegram, 2019), young adult fiction (Iris and me, 2023) and non-fiction (Anzac Day: the New Zealand Story in 2014, also shortlisted for the Lianza Book Awards 2014; Waitangi Day: the New Zealand Story, Children’s Choice section, 2015; The New Zealand Wars, 2018). Iris and me was the winner, young adult section of the NZ Children’s and Young Adults Book Awards 2023 and was longlisted for 2023 ARA Historical Novel Prize. Eleven of her books have been named as Storylines Notable Books. Her work has also appeared in the School Journal, Ready to Read series, Readers’ Theater and many other educational publications.

Philippa was runner up in the Playmarket Plays for the Young Competition 2010 and shortlisted in 2014 and 2023. She was a Finalist in the Storylines Joy Cowley Award 2015. She has been shortlisted for the Text Publishing Prize and the Manhire Prize for Creative Science Writing (three times) and was the recipient of the New Zealand Society of Authors Mid-Career Writers Award in 2010 and a CLNZ/NZSA research grant in 2015. In April 2014, she travelled to Turkey as a member of the Gallipoli Volunteers program to help out at the Anzac Day ceremonies. In April 2016, she was awarded the Anzac Bridge Fellowship, and in December 2016, she went to Antarctica with the Antarctica NZ community engagement programme (formerly Artists and Writers to Antarctica). She was awarded the Easter residency at the Michael King Writers Centre in 2019 and a CNZ Arts Continuity Grant in 2020 and was shortlisted for the NZSA/Auckland Museum research grant in 2020 and the NZSA Peter & Dianne Beatson Fellowship in 2021. She was shortlisted and runner up for the Laura Solomon Prize 2022. Philippa is a frequent speaker at book-related events and seminars and visits schools around the country as part of the Writers in Schools programme. She is passionate about the need to tell our stories and our history to our children and young people.