Events Calendar

You are invited to attend the upcoming SoLA seminar presented by Gavin Bishop O.N.Z.M. – Illustrator and Author.

My world in my books: Words form Gavin Bishop
My reason for writing and illustrating books for New Zealand children is to share stories with them from this part of the world. I aim to reflect the people and places that I hope will be familiar to our children. When I was young most of the books that I read were from England, America, and sometimes Australia. We read about meadows, gypsy caravans, and snow at Christmas time. Our world did not appear in these stories. Our history was played down and reduced to a series of simplistic events played out by cardboard characters.

In my talk, I am going to look at some of the ways that I have used my experiences of living in Aotearoa to write stories and make pictures. I want to share my life and family stories that are firmly grounded in this land.

Short Bio:
Gavin Bishop O.N.Z.M. has published 80 books that have been translated into twelve languages.He has won Best NZ Children's Book of the Year five times, Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year five times, and Best Non-Fiction Children's Book of the Year three times.

In 2018 he was awarded the TE TOHU A TA KINGI IHAKA for a lifetime contribution to Māori Art and culture and in 2019 THE PRIME MINISTER'S AWARD for Literacy Achievement.
His alma mater, the University of Canterbury, presented him with a HONORARY DOCTORATE in Education in 2016.

He was nominated for the 2024 Hans Christian Anderson Award, the highest award for Children's Literature in the world.