Robyn Welsh is a new to the fold of New Zealand authors, arriving on the back of a 45-year career in journalism.

Alongside her regular news and magazine writing, she has writing creatively, including short stories and stories for children.

Robyn’s first short story 95 Bushels to the Acre was published on Amazon as part of her NZIBS (New Zealand Institute of Business Studies) course ‘Writing Fiction for Beginners.’

Her latest book is at the opposite end of the spectrum – the 345-page non-fiction Wired for Sound – the Stebbing History of New Zealand, co-authored with music historian Grant Gillanders and published by Bateman Books.

That 10-year-long project called on all of Robyn’s writing, editing and project management skills, acquired at her Wellington Polytechnic journalism course in 1974 and honed forever after that.

Following her course graduation, Robyn worked on the Taranaki Herald in New Plymouth, covering general news before becoming a court reporter and covering the health ‘round’. She was also the sole-charger writer at the Herald’s Hawera office.

In August 1976, Robyn returned to her birthplace, Wellington, joining the Evening Post newspaper as a general news, weekend sports reporter and joint Civic reporter. In 1979, she was appointed to the Parliamentary Press Gallery team, as the Post’s first female reporter in that role.

Robyn’s subsequent full-time and freelance magazine work has appeared in the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, Next, More, Your Home & Garden, NZ House & Garden, Inspirations magazine and Herald Homes. She has also been published in the British magazine 25 Beautiful Homes. Other publications include her work as a lead writer on Barbican Publishing’s guides “Where to Live in Auckland”. She was also the editor/writer for the Yellow Guide to Retirement Living.

More recently, it was during her Wired for Sound project that she discovered the joy of creative writing. At a café in Grey Lynn, Auckland, she picked up a copy of The Best of Katherine Mansfield’s Short Stories from the bookshelf. The page fell open at ‘Prelude’ and she was smitten. Within days she had signed up for her first creative writing course, with author Tina Shaw as her tutor.

Robyn is working towards a collection of short stories. She also has a number of potential projects underway as part of her ‘Writing Stories for Children’ course work, with Janice Marriott as her NZIBS tutor.

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