Diana Menefy Author | fiction & non-fiction

Braefern (the farm name) is an ideal place for writing. I love the quiet, the views and the space, yet we are close enough to the city to not feel isolated - unless the river floods. Even this is part of our wonderful lifestyle and usually only closes the road for a few hours. The land around me and its history has had a big influence on my writing.

Spending my time between my family, the local museum, and my writing keeps me busy and makes for a rich and rewarding lifestyle.

Highlights of my Career​

"Writing, when the writer feels the work is going well, when the words are flowing and the story is a strong one, can be a godlike experience."

Margaret Mahy

My first School Journal article ‘Charlie’ was published thanks to editor John Bonallack.

School Journal Part 2, Number Four, 1984. My last one was published in Choices FLIGHT in 2008. ‘Getting off the ground’. Funnily enough both involved birds and feathers. Charlie had broken his wing, which we splinted. He eventually learnt to fly again and stayed free. Getting off the ground explains how birds have different feathers that enable their flight, smooth their landings and how aeroplanes copy the designs of nature.

Accuracy Above All published in 1991 in the New Zealand Geographic Magazine. The article linked modern-day hydrographic surveying to that done by Captain James Cook around the Bay of Islands and the equipment used. I spent a week on the Monawai, did interviews, took many photos - seven of these published with the article and studied the life of Cook and his voyages. Kennedy Warne the editor at the time polished my article and made sense of my muddled version of the preparation of charts from data gathered by the hydrographic team.

In January 1992 the article was produced as a separate booklet by the NZRN for recruitment and publicity purposes.

The email from Vicki Marsdon, Publishing Editor of Reed Publishing, NZ Ltd. on 30 August 2000

‘We discussed River Crossing at our publishing meeting last week and I’m very pleased to let you know that we want to publish this in September 2001. Peter Janssen will be in touch with a draft contract…’

Learning Media, October 2001

I wrote 20 scripts for the literacy programme designed for struggling readers in the USA, of those four were contracted, four others went for the final review with the reps in the USA before being dropped. ‘Several others were lovely: the poetic At Night, and The Wind especially appealed to me, but were felt to lack the action required to hold this kind of readers attention.’ Beth Braddock, Publisher learning Media.

In April 2002 flying to Australia with my mother, husband Keith, and sister Sue for the graduation ceremony of my Master of Education (Children’s Literature) at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga.

My first full page glossy photograph published in New Zealand Geographic in August 2002 as part of an article co-written with Warren Judd called Eucalypts: Trees of the Future?

The contract offer from Lorain Day, Publishing Manager HarperCollins for Shadow of the Boyd in October 2009.

An email with the confidentiality agreement from the NZPost Awards on 21 February 2011

Progression to Principal Academic Staff Member (PASM) at NorthTec in December 2011

In August 2011 being selected for the LIANZA awards and then on the 9th winning the Esther Glen Medal, New Zealand’s oldest book prize ‘awarded for only the most distinguished contributions to New Zealand literature for children.’

Being approached by Scholastic to write a book for the Kiwis at War series. “We approached 5 well-known , top New Zealand children’s fiction authors to write gripping, heartfelt and impeccably researched stories for children based on events in each year of WW1 from 1914-1918. A collaborative project with the books linked together. Susan Brocker 1914, David Hair 1916,  Brian Falkner 1917, Des Hunt 1918.

I signed the contract on 4th June 2013 and sent the first draft to Penny at the beginning of September 2014, by 24 October we’d finished the edits, decided on the cover, and the book was ready to go to the printers! Wow – it was so cool to research and write and my nursing background was a huge help.

I signed the contract with One Tree House for I Had a Brother in November 2017’

I had a contract for this book with Walker Books in November 2012, Sarah Foster, Publishing Manager. This was cancelled in November 2014 when Walker Books dropped all the NZ authors after Sarah Foster left.

Endorsed by both Starship Children’s Hospital and the Grief Centre NZ, it will be a valuable resource for those who need it and for those whose children ask the hard questions.

Vanessa Owen, Kidsbooksnz.blogspot.com

In March 2020 I Had a Brother was selected for a Storylines Notable Book Award.

In December 2024 I finally finished Chasing Silver a novel I first discussed with Penny Scown of Scholastic in 2000 just after I’d started with NorthTec. It has gone through many changes, different POV’s and I’ve written nine other books in between working on it, and it took an assessment with Barbara Else to finally get it back on track.

In March this year I got an email from Penny saying ‘I really did enjoy it.’ So fingers crossed.

TESTIMONIALS