Kimberly Andrews
Kimberly Andrews (1985--) grew up in the Canadian Rockies. She came to Aotearoa New Zealand in 1992, where she currently lives, but has also spent time in Borneo and the UK. In London, she worked for The House of Illustration, whose main ambassador is Quentin Blake. She also worked at the Natural History Museum in the live Butterfly House and also behind the scenes, assisting with the curation of mammal specimens in the dry stores.
Kimberly is a trained biologist and geologist. She has a Bachelor of Science, double degree in Geology and Biology from Victoria University of Wellington, Te Herenga Waka (2007). She also has a Master of Science in Geochemisty from Victoria University of Wellington, Te Herenga Waka (2009).
She was awarded Storylines Notable Book Awards for Tuna and Hiriwa by Ripeka Takotowai Goddard (2016) and Song of the River by Joy Cowley (2019). In 2019, the first story Kimberly wrote and illustrated, Puffin the Architect (2018), won the Russell Clark Award for Illustration and was a finalist for Best Picture Book in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. It also won a Storylines Notable Picture Book Award as well as the NZ Booklovers Award for Best Children’s Book. It has been published in five languages, with rights sold to Romania, Russia, China and Taiwan.
More stories followed featuring favourite animal characters from Puffin the Architect's charming world: Hound the Detective, highly commended by Storylines and a finalist for the Best Picture Book Award in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults 2021, Moose the Pilot, a Storylines Notable Picture Book 2021 and Russel Clark Award for Illustration finalist, New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults 2022, and Goose the Artist, a Storylines Notable Picture Book 2022.
Since then, Kimberly has published six more Rub Rabbit adventures with Scholastic NZ in 2023 and 2024, and Giraffe the Gardener with Penguin Random House in 2025.
As well as writing and illustrating, Kimberly owns and operates a conservation-based screen-printing t-shirt company in Wellington. New Zealand’s unique birds, plants and landscapes inspire her hand-drawn designs. She is passionate about increasing the awareness of, and protection for New Zealand’s unique and too often endangered natives.
