32 21st century New Zealand novelists

Philippa Ballantine, who also used the pen name Pip Ballantine, is a contemporary New Zealand author of speculative fiction and an avid podcaster. She now lives in Manassas, Virginia, with her husband and collaborator Tee Morris.

Marcus Campbell is a writer, painter and sculptor.

Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand novelist and screenwriter. Her second novel, The Luminaries, won the 2013 Man Booker Prize.

Catherine Chidgey is a New Zealand novelist and short-story writer. Her honours include the inaugural Prize in Modern Letters; the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship to Menton, France; Best First Book at both the New Zealand Book Awards and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize ; the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards; and the Janet Frame Fiction Prize. She lives near Hamilton in New Zealand.

Paul Cleave is an author from New Zealand.

David Henry Halford Coventry is a New Zealand born author and musician. Published in six different languages his debut novel, The Invisible Mile (2015), was the winner of the 2016 Hubert Church Award for Fiction, shortlisted for both the Ockham New Zealand Book Award and the Sports Book Awards in the United Kingdom. His work has been compared to that of Don DeLillo, Toni Morrison and Thomas Mann. Coventry's second novel, Dance Prone, explores trauma, art and 1980s' post-hardcore punk rock. The novel was published in 2020.

Nigel Cox was a New Zealand author and museum director, with five novels published as of early 2006.

William (Bill) Direen is a New Zealand writer and performer. He graduated from Canterbury University (Christchurch) after gaining the John Tinline Prize (1980) and M.A. Hons.. He directed Blue Ladder Theatre at 87 Cashel Street, Christchurch, moving later to produce a series of experimental musicals in Wellington. Later writing (1994–present) ranges from criticism and speculative fiction to phonaesthetic poetry. From 2006 to 2017 he edited the trans-cultural literary magazine Percutio, "dedicated to aspects of the creative process and to works that bridge cultures". His music activities throughout the decades include groups The Bilders and the trio Ferocious. He has toured USA, Europe, Serbia and Australia, has strong ties with France, and now lives in Otago, New Zealand. He is the subject of a documentary, Bill Direen, A Memory of Others, directed by Simon Ogston (2017) (Official trailer).

Joan Druett is a New Zealand historian and novelist, specialising in maritime history.

Chris Else is the New Zealand author of novels, collections of short stories, and poems.

Janet Paterson Frame was a New Zealand author. She was internationally renowned for her work, which included novels, short stories, poetry, juvenile fiction, and an autobiography, and received numerous awards including being appointed to the Order of New Zealand, New Zealand's highest civil honour.

Maurice Gough Gee is a New Zealand novelist. He is one of New Zealand's most distinguished and prolific authors, having written over thirty novels for adults and children, and has won numerous awards, including multiple top prizes at the New Zealand Book Awards. In 1993, Andro Linklater, writing in British newspaper The Sunday Times, said that "Gee deserves to be regarded as one of the finest writers at work, not only in New Zealand ... but in the English speaking world".

Patricia Frances Grace is a New Zealand Māori writer of novels, short stories, and children's books.

Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler, generally known as Witi Ihimaera, is a New Zealand author. He was the first published Māori novelist.

Annamarie Jagose is an LGBT academic and writer of fictional works.

Lloyd David Jones is a New Zealand author. His novel Mister Pip (2006) won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

David Jubermann is a New Zealand writer and the author of Shiftlight, Drift Race., Just Us and Hypercar.

Russell Kirkpatrick is a geography lecturer and a novelist. He holds a PhD in geography from the University of Canterbury, and lectured at the University of Waikato in Hamilton until 2014. He is currently living and writing in Australia. He has worked on seven atlas projects, including the New Zealand Historical Atlas (1998) and authored the Contemporary Atlas of New Zealand (1999/2004). He also wrote and was photographer for a book about New Zealand Waterfalls - Walk to Waterfalls (2011).

Elizabeth Fiona Knox is a New Zealand writer. She has authored several novels for both adults and teenagers, autobiographical novellas, and a collection of essays. Her best known works are The Vintner's Luck (1998), which won several awards, has been published in ten languages, and was made into a film of the same name by Niki Caro in 2009. Knox is also known for her young adult literary fantasy series, Dreamhunter Duet. Her most recent novels are Mortal Fire and Wake, both published in 2013, and The Absolute Book, published in 2019.

Christine Leunens is an American-born New Zealander-Belgian novelist. She is the author of Primordial Soup, Caging Skies, and A Can of Sunshine, which have been translated into over twenty languages. Caging Skies, the international bestselling novel about a child in the Hitler Youth, was the basis and inspiration for the award-winning film, Jojo Rabbit, by Taika Waititi, which won the Toronto International Film Festival's People Choice Award, and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Margaret Mahy was a New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. Many of her story plots have strong supernatural elements but her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up. She wrote more than 100 picture books, 40 novels and 20 collections of short stories. At her death she was one of thirty writers to win the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for her "lasting contribution to children's literature".

Anthony McCarten is a New Zealand novelist, playwright, journalist, television writer and filmmaker. He is best known for writing the biopics The Theory of Everything (2014), Darkest Hour (2017), Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) and The Two Popes (2019). He received Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for The Theory of Everything and The Two Popes.

Tamsyn Muir is a New Zealand author of fantasy, science fiction and horror. She has been nominated for several awards, and her first novel was published in 2019.

Emma Neale is a novelist and poet from New Zealand.

Emily Justine Perkins is a New Zealand author.

Joan Rosier-Jones is a novelist, playwright, short story writer and nonfiction writer, and teacher. She completed a Teacher's- A Certificate in Christchurch Teacher's College in 1958–59 and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in History and English.

Rosie Scott was a novelist and lecturer, with dual Australian and New Zealand citizenship.

Nalini Singh is a New Zealand author of numerous paranormal romance novels.

Laura Solomon was a New Zealand / British novelist, playwright and poet. Best known as a novelist, her poetry and short stories have also been widely published and short listed for awards and prizes.

Christian Karlson "Karl" Stead is a New Zealand writer whose works include novels, poetry, short stories, and literary criticism. He is one of New Zealand's most well-known and internationally celebrated writers.

Vanda Symon is a crime writer and radio host from Dunedin, New Zealand, and the Chair of the Otago Southland Branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors.

Richard Webster is an award winning multi-million selling author, ghostwriter, mentalist, hypnotist and magician.