Eirlys Elisabeth Hunter is a writer and creative writing teacher in New Zealand. She was born in London, England.
Biography
Eirlys Hunter was born on 10 May 1952 in London, England. She has Welsh heritage and grew up in the United Kingdom. Hunter moved to Wellington, New Zealand, in 1983, and began writing seriously when the last of her children went to kindergarten. In 1991, she took the Original Composition class with Bill Manhire at Victoria University of Wellington and in 1998 she completed a Master of Arts degree in creative writing. She has written one adult novel and seven novels for children. Her most recent children's novel, The Mapmakers' Race, was described by Kate De Goldi as poised, stylish and an utter delight. Hunter's short stories have been broadcast on Radio New Zealand, and published in journals such as Sport and Landfall, and in anthologies such as Best New Zealand Fiction 2 and Best New Zealand Fiction 4. She has written stories and plays for the New Zealand School Journal and other educational publications, and visited schools with the New Zealand Book Council's Writers in Schools programme. She went on the Book Council's Words on Wheels tours in 2001 and 2002, and in 2003, she was writer-in-residence at the American Embassy School in New Delhi, India. Hunter is also a teacher of creative writing, judge, assessor, mentor, website administrator and board member for literary organisations. She was a founder member of the Wellington Writers Walk committee in 2001. She was on the judging panel for the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards in 2013, and has also been judge for the Jack Lasenby Award in 2011, short-story judge for the Ronald Hugh Morriesonliterary awards in 2013, and youth judge for the NFFD youth competition in 2019. In 2016, she and Louise O’Brien founded the website Hooked on NZ Books He Ao Ano for young adults. Hunter has led writing workshops for children and adults, and since 2003, she has taught CREW255 Writing for Children at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington. She is also on the Board of NZ Review of Books Pukapuka Aotearoa. Hunter has four children, and lives in Wellington.
