Congratulations to NZSA member Susan Price on being awarded an ONZM in the New Years Honours for services to literature and philanthropy.

Miss Susan Price is an historian, researcher, children’s author, archivist and book collector.

In 1991, Miss Price donated her own collection of some 25,000 children’s books to the National Library of New Zealand, which is open through her home as a resource for other scholars, teachers and literature enthusiasts. She donated Chevening, a restored block of four flats built in 1929, to Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga in 2019. She has established the Susan Price Scholarship, awarded biannually to a postgraduate student at Victoria University of Wellington. She has also donated $20,000 to children’s writer Kate De Goldi to help research children’s literature. Over the past 35 years she has gifted thousands of books to more than 70 children around the country, to promote their interest in literature. She has a specific interest in books relating to war and anti-war themes, selecting books for the youth section of the Kippenberger Library at the Queen Elizabeth II Army Museum in Waiouru. She has personally compiled historical records of the Wellington suburbs of Brooklyn and Kelburn from original designs to interviews with early residents. Miss Price was a trustee of the Randell Cottage Writers’ Trust, which offers the Randell Cottage Writers Residency scholarship to one French and one New Zealand writer per year.

Susan Price gifted her private collection of children’s books to the Library in 1991. It includes Susan’s pick of the best English language children’s books published from 1930 to today.

See more information on the Susan Price collection: https://natlib.govt.nz/collectio…/a-z/susan-price-collection