40 New Zealand women writers

Barbara Angus was a New Zealand diplomat and historian who served as the country's ambassador to the Philippines between 1978 and 1981. She also worked for the Department of Internal Affairs as a research assistant in its War History Branch and later for the Department of External Affairs. Angus had stints as a diplomat in Singapore, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and Washington, D.C. and authored a book on Katherine Mansfield and wrote two entries for the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.

Helen Moewaka Barnes is a New Zealand academic. She is Māori, of Te Kapotai (Ngāpuhi) and Ngapuhi-nui-tonu descent and is currently a full professor at the Massey University.

Constance Alice Barnicoat was a New Zealand secretary, interpreter, mountaineer and journalist.

Jennifer Lillian Beck is a New Zealand writer of over 50 children’s books. Her work, often focusing on themes of history, peace and war, has won numerous prizes and awards. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

Mere Anne Berryman is a New Zealand kaupapa Māori academic. She is Māori, of Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, and Ngāti Whare descent and as of 2019 is a full professor at the University of Waikato.

Barbara Lesley Brookes is a New Zealand historian and academic. She specialises in women's history and medical history.

Marta Camps-Arbestain, usually known as Marta Camps, is a New Zealand soil science academic, and a full professor at Massey University.

Jennifer Barbara Carryer is a New Zealand nursing academic. She is currently a full professor of nursing at the Massey University and executive director of the New Zealand College of Nurses.

Sally Casswell is a New Zealand academic, and as of 2019 is a full professor at the Massey University. She is a member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Dependence and Alcohol Problems and is chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and an Officer of the Order of New Zealand.

Brenda Chawner is a Canadian-New Zealand library academic specialising in the intersection between librarianship and information technology.

Sandra Lorraine Coney is a New Zealand local-body politician, writer, feminist, historian, and women's health campaigner.

Lois Dorothy Daish is a New Zealand restaurateur, food writer and cookbook author.

Jacqueline Mary Fahey is a New Zealand painter and writer.

Golriz Ghahraman is an Iranian-born New Zealand politician, member of Parliament, and author. The former United Nations lawyer was a child asylum seeker, and became the first refugee elected to New Zealand's Parliament. Ghahraman is a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the Green Party.

Christina Kirk Henderson was a New Zealand teacher, feminist, prohibitionist, social reformer and editor.

Whiti Hereaka is a New Zealand playwright, novelist and screenwriter and a barrister and solicitor. She has held a number of writing residencies and appeared at literary festivals in New Zealand and overseas, and several of her books and plays have been shortlisted for or won awards. Her book Bugs won an Honour Award in the 2014 New Zealand Post Awards for Children and Young Adults. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Janet Holmes is a New Zealand sociolinguist. Her research interests include language and gender, language in the workplace, and New Zealand English.

Philippa Lynne Howden-Chapman is a professor of public health at the University of Otago, Wellington, and the director of the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities.

Edith Annie Howes was a New Zealand teacher, educationalist, and writer of children's literature. She was a Member of the Order of the British Empire and received the King George VI Coronation Medal for her services to literature.

Roberta Kathleen Hunter is a New Zealand education academic of Cook Islands Māori descent and as of 2019 is a full professor at the Massey University. She specialises in mathematics education.

Mary Rosalind Hursthouse is a British-born New Zealand moral philosopher noted for her work on virtue ethics. Hursthouse is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at the University of Auckland.

Barbara Alison Jones is a New Zealand academic who works in the field of sociology of education.

Vicki Karaminas is a New Zealand fashion academic, and a full professor at Massey University.

Merata Kawharu is a New Zealand Māori writer and academic active in the New Zealand Historic Places Trust and the Māori Heritage Council. Her principal research is on the concept of kaitiakitanga within Māori culture.

Ngaire Margaret Kerse is a New Zealand medical academic, and as of 2019 is a full professor at the University of Auckland.

Marlena Cathorina Kruger is a South African-New Zealand medical researcher and academic. She is currently a full professor of nutritional physiology at the Massey University.

Susan Pran Krumdieck is a New Zealand engineering academic. She is currently a full professor at the University of Canterbury.

Tahu Hera Kukutai is a New Zealand sociology academic; she is Māori, of Ngāti Tīpā, Ngāti Mahanga, Ngāti Kinohaku, Ngāti Ngawaero and Te Aupōuri descent, and as of 2019 is a full professor at the University of Waikato.

Sarah Isabella Leberman is a New Zealand sport management academic, as of 2019 is a full professor at the Massey University.

Edith Joan Lyttleton was an Australasian author, who wrote as G. B. Lancaster. She was born in Tasmania, and brought up on a sheep station in Canterbury, New Zealand. She produced 13 novels, a collection of stories, two serialised novels and over 250 stories.

Anna Mackenzie is a New Zealand writer of contemporary, historic and speculative fiction for adult and young adult audiences. She has won numerous awards for her writing and also works as an editor, mentor, teacher of creative writing programmes and public speaker at festivals and in schools.

Hester Maclean was an Australian-born nurse, hospital matron, nursing administrator, editor and writer who spent most of her career in New Zealand. She served in World War I as the founding Matron-in-Chief of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service, and was one of the first nurses to receive the Florence Nightingale Medal.

Tina Makereti is a New Zealand novelist, essayist, and short story writer, editor and creative writing teacher. Her work has been widely published and she has been the recipient of writing residencies in New Zealand and overseas. Her book Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa, won the inaugural fiction prize at the Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards in 2011 and Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings won the Ngā Kupu Ora Aotearoa Māori Book Award for Fiction in 2014. She lives on the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand.

Juliet Marillier is a New Zealand-born writer of fantasy, focusing predominantly on historical fantasy.

April Phillips is an actress, writer, singer, director and producer of film and theatre. She was born in Coventry, England, but resides in Wellington, New Zealand. Her production company, Godiva Productions Limited, was named after the Lady Godiva legend of her hometown of Coventry.

Amber Blanco White was a British feminist writer and scholar.

Tania Kelly Roxborogh is a New Zealand author who currently lives in Lincoln, Canterbury. She is the author of over 25 books, including Third Degree, Twenty Minute Shakespeare, and Fat Like Me and The Banquo's Son Trilogy. She also teaches English at the local high school.

Joanna Mary Seagar, generally known as Jo Seagar, is a New Zealand writer, TV personality and celebrity cook.

Dorothy Wall was a New Zealand-born author and illustrator of children's fiction books. She is most famous for creating Blinky Bill, an anthropomorphic koala who was the central character in her books Blinky Bill: the Quaint Little Australian (1933), Blinky Bill Grows Up (1934) and Blinky Bill and Nutsy (1937). Most of her books were first published by Angus & Robertson.

Jessica Watson is an Australian sailor who was awarded the Order of Australia Medal after attempting a solo global circumnavigation at the age of 16. Departing Sydney on 18 October 2009, Watson headed north-east, crossing the equator in the Pacific Ocean before crossing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. She returned to Sydney on 15 May 2010, three days before her 17th birthday, though the voyage was ultimately shorter than the required 21,600 nautical miles to be considered a global circumnavigation. In recognition of her attempt Watson was named the 2011 Young Australian of the Year, and the following year was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia. She currently resides in Buderim, Queensland.