Janet Hunt
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3 September 1951
Janet Hunt | |
|---|---|
| Born | Janet Christine Hunt 3 September 1951 Stratford, New Zealand |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Alma mater | University of Auckland (MA) |
| Notable works | Wetlands of New Zealand (2007) |
| Academic background | |
| Thesis | The paua's stout kiss : the poems of Hone Tuwhare : a thematic reading (1995) |
Janet Christine Hunt (born 3 September 1951) is a New Zealand writer of non-fiction works for children and adults. She writes primarily about wildlife. Her 2007 book Wetlands of New Zealand received the top prize for non-fiction at the 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.
Hunt was born in Stratford, Taranaki, New Zealand, on 3 September 1951.[1] She grew up in Inglewood on her parents' dairy farm and attended Inglewood High School.[2]
Hunt holds a Bachelor of Arts with honours from Massey University, a teaching diploma from Palmerston North Teachers' College and a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Auckland.[3] Her thesis was about the poetry of Hone Tuwhare.[2] She has worked as a teacher at primary and secondary schools, a production editor, and as a graphic design lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology and the University of Auckland.[3]
Before 2007 she lived on Waiheke Island for a period, where she became interested in the island's wetlands.[4] She has been a member of Forest & Bird since 1997; in 2014 she became the chairwoman of North Taranaki Forest & Bird.[4][2]
Non-fiction writing
In 2003, she published a children's non-fiction book, A Bird in the Hand: Keeping New Zealand Wildlife Safe. The book is about efforts to increase the populations of 21 endangered native species in New Zealand, including the Powelliphanta "Egmont".[5] It won Book of the Year and Best in Non-Fiction at the 2004 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, won the 2004 Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction, and was listed as a 2004 Storylines Notable Non-Fiction Book.[3]
It was followed by From Weta to Kauri: A Guide to the New Zealand Forest (2004), which was a finalist in the non-fiction category at the 2005 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and listed as a 2005 Storylines Notable Non-Fiction Book.[3] The Taranaki Daily News review said it would "be on many a forest rambler's list of backpack musts".[6]
Wetlands of New Zealand: A Bitter-sweet Story (2007) won the Environment award and the top prize for non-fiction at the 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.[3] Hunt has described it as the "absolute peak of [her] career".[2] The work included photographs by Hunt herself and by Arno Gasteiger.[4] A review in The Press described it as a "valuable resource" on New Zealand's wetlands: "Beautifully designed by Hunt, with sidebars on bird species and botanical and ecological detail, there are descriptions and predictions, historical eyewitness accounts and early maps".[4]
Hunt published children's book E3 Call Home in 2009.[7] Hunt did her own design and illustrations for the book, which was about the migration of a bar-tailed godwit.[8] It received the Best in Non-Fiction prize at the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults,[8] and was listed as a 2010 Storylines Notable Non-Fiction Book[3]
Our Big Blue Backyard (2014) is about New Zealand's marine reserves and the need to protect them.[9][10]
In 2017 and 2019 Hunt published two children's books of stories about Wildbase Hospital, a wildlife rehabilitation hospital which is part of Massey University.[2] The 2009 book, Three Kiwi Tales, was shortlisted in the non-fiction category of the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.[11] A review in The Daily Post said Hunt "manages to provide a fascinating amount of detail about kiwi and how they survive which can be easily read by children and enjoyed by adults at the same time".[12]
