Barbara Larson
CHAIR
Barbara is the former publisher and co-founder of Longacre Press, an award-winning publishing company that specialised in young adult and junior fiction. She more recently worked as editor for Random House NZ and for Penguin Random House NZ. Barbara was a recipient of the Margaret Mahy Award for services to children's literature in 2010. She now works as a freelance editor and publishing consultant from her home in Queenstown.
Jo Miller
Jo grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she learned Scottish Country Dancing and read Robbie Burns’ poetry. She emigrated to New Zealand in the early 90s where, after many years in marketing and communications, she now manages her own content marketing agency helping organisations tell their stories. She has always loved to read and joined a local parent-child book club to support her children’s reading. She has seen first hand how her two kids have slowly developed a love of reading and how much value this has added to their lives.
Rachel Hayward
Rachel grew up in Christchurch in the 1970s. Her love of reading was fostered by an active community group formed by local parents to support and promote children’s literature. In the mid-2000s, as a parent herself, Rachel again became immersed in the world of children’s stories, and for several years wrote picture books and short stories for early and middle readers. She’s a trustee for Fledge because she knows first-hand the critical supportive role that mentors, editors and publishers play for new writers. A lawyer and public servant, Rachel lives in Wellington.
Andrew Gunn
Andrew is based in Christchurch and loved reading as a child, inspiring an enthusiasm for story-telling which has stuck with him in the following decades. He is a full-time screenwriter specialising in children’s and family film and television, and also writes a regular newspaper column and the (very) occasional children’s book. He is keen to see new writers afforded the same encouragement and opportunity he has been fortunate to receive.