David Hill

David Hill (1942 -) is a highly regarded, award-winning author, journalist, reviewer, editor, and playwright. Born in Napier and a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington (MA Hons, 1964), he spent fourteen years as a secondary school teacher before switching to writing full-time. 

An engaged and active member of New Zealand’s literary world, David was the Robert Lord Writer in Residence in Dunedin from June to August in 2003 and Artist in Residence in Palmerston North in 2016. In 2010, he participated in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. He regularly appears at literary festivals such as the Auckland Writers Festivals and is part of Read NZ TPM’s Writers in School Program. 

As one of New Zealand's most prolific authors for children and young adults, David has published more than 50 titles since 1970. He has been the recipient of many awards and hours across his career. He was awarded an ICI Writers’ Bursary in 1980 in support of his writing. In 2005 he was the recipient of Storylines' prestigious Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award for his distinguished contribution to children's literature and in 2021 he received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction. He was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2005 and was elevated to Companion by King Charles III during the 2024 New Year Honours for his services to literature, particularly children’s literature. 

David has contributed stories, articles, reviews, and plays to newspapers, radio, and most New Zealand journals, including Landfall, NZ Listener, and School Journal, as well as overseas. 

His early writing efforts included The Seventies Connection (1980) on New Zealand literature and Taranaki (1987) and editor both in collaboration with Elizabeth Smither, Introducing Maurice Gee (1981), and On Poetry: Twelve Studies of Work by New Zealand Poets (1984). Moaville Magic (1985), illustrated by Eric Heath, was the first of three collections of comic and gently satirical pieces on an archetypical small New Zealand town, first broadcast on radio and published in The Dominion and elsewhere. 

The Boy (1988), illustrated by Chris Slane, amusingly explores a father's perspective on his teenage son. The Games of Nanny Miro (1990) is a bilingual story, illustrated by June Grant and translated by Irene Curnow. His early plays for teenagers include Ours But to Do (1986), A Time to Laugh (1990), and A Day at a Time (1994). 

David's first teenage novel, See Ya, Simon (1992), is an absorbing story of friendship and courage, following a 14-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy, whose gritty humour and determination centre his story. This well-loved novel has received numerous awards, including the 1994 Times Educational Supplement Award for Special Needs and was the runner up for two other UK awards. It was shortlisted for the Storylines Esther Glen and AIM Children’s Book Award for Senior Fiction in 1993 and in 2002, it was the winner of the Children's Literature Foundation Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved Book.  

David’s next three novels in 1995 explored the relationships and problems among teenagers involved in activities such as Tae Kwon Do in Kick Back, a disastrous tramping expedition in Take It Easy, and a drama production in Curtain Up. Also in 1995, The Winning Touch features an intermediate class's efforts to win at New Image rugby. A more satiric touch is evident in Second Best (1996), about cricket. On the other side of the equation, in Fat, Four-Eyed and Useless (Scholastic NZ, 1997) Ben discovers talent and worth through writing after being bullied for being useless at sports. Fat, Four-Eyed and Useless won the Esther Glen Award at the LIANZA Children's Book Awards the following year in 1998. 

In 2001, he published The High Wind Blows (Puffin), The Sleeper Wakes (Puffin), and The Name of the Game (Mallinson Rendel). The High Wind Blows and The Sleeper Wakes were listed as 2002 Storylines Notable Books. 

Right Where It Hurts (Mallinson Rendel, 2002) is a junior novel which explores the area of self-harm. The novel was shortlisted for the 2003 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults (NZCYA), was listed as a 2003 Storylines Notable Senior Fiction Book and won the 2003 LIANZA Esther Glen Award. Again that year was Where All Things End (Penguin Books, 2002), a Sci-Fi novel set on a space station in 2400, where a blackhole discovery upturns the laws of science and brings the end of life as we know it. 

When Peter Cotterill begins his diary in My Story: Journey to Tangiwai, The Diary of Peter Cotterill, Napier 1953 (Scholastic, 2003), little does he realise that something is happening elsewhere in New Zealand that is going to have a huge impact on his life. This title was a finalist in the junior fiction section of the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children & Young Adults 2004 and was listed as a 2004 Storylines Notable Junior Fiction Book. Also in 2003 was No Safe Harbour (Mallinson Rendel), a YA novel set aboard the ill-fated Wahine ferry in 1968. It was a finalist in the young adult fiction category for the NZCYA Awards and was listed as a 2004 Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction Book.  

David has twice written for Puffin Books’ Kiwi Bites series, which is filled with bite-sized stories for kids. The first book is No Big Deal (2003), which is about Todd, who sick of all the "short" jokes, until the day he and his friends become trapped in a cave. Illustrated by Terry Fitzgibbon, No Big Deal was listed Storylines Notable Junior Fiction Book in 2004. The second Kiwi Bites book David wrote was Black Day (2007), following a gang of children and their quest to present a mind-blowing project at the Science Fair, despite sabotage attempts from the class bully. 

Coming Back (Mallinson Rendel, 2004) is about a boy named Ryan, who is driving his mates, and Tara, who is on her way home. Neither of them is paying attention, and the tragedy that follows changes many lives. Coming Back was a finalist in the Young Adult Fiction Category of the 2005 NZCYA Awards and listed as a 2005 Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction Book. 

Two young adult novels by David were published in 2005: Running Hot (Mallinson Rendel) and Bodies and Soul (Scholastic). Both were listed as 2006 Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction Books. Running Hot was nominated in the young adult category for the 2006 NZCYA Awards. 

In 2006, David released Hill Sides (2006), a collection of his articles, columns, and short stories spanning more than 20 years of David's writing for adults. He also released Aim High (2006), which was listed as a 2007 Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction Book. Both books were published through Mallinson Rendel Publishers. 

Over the next three years, David published three young adult novels through Mallinson Rendal. In 2007 was Duet, following gifted rock-guitarist-turned-reluctant-classical-musician Kallum and the flute-playing Paige. The River Runs (2008) is about 12-year-old Chris and his attempts to stop his older, bigger cousin from bullying him. In Fire on High (2009), Jonno steps into a tense and potentially violent situation during a trip to South America to see a solar eclipse.  

My Brother's War, a compelling historical fiction novel about a pair of brothers involved in World War I, was published by Penguin Books in 2012. It was awarded Best Junior Fiction in the 2013 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. It also won the LIANZA Librarians’ Choice Award 2013. 

The Deadly Sky was published in 2014 by Penguin NZ. Set in 1974, the Young Adult novel sees protagonist Darryl move from wintry New Zealand to the Tahitian island of Mangareva. Living on the island isn’t entirely the tropical adventure Darryl expects, though, for Mangareva is just a few hundred kilometres from a nuclear testing zone. 

David’s YA novel Enemy Camp was released in 2016. The book recounts the arrival of hundreds of Japanese soldiers into a Featherston POW camp in 1942. Though main character Ewen begins to view the prisoners as humans rather than as dangerous soldiers, tensions between the guards and inmates continue to build – until finally, it can be contained no more. Enemy Camp was a finalist for the Esther Glen Junior Fiction Award and the Children's Choice Junior Fiction Award in the 2016 NZCYA Awards. 

Continuing with historical fiction set in WWII is Flight Path (2017), which was named a Storylines Notable Young Adult Book in 2018 and Notable Junior Fiction book in 2019. It follows the young Jack through dangerous missions both exciting and terrifying as a fighter pilot for a Lancaster bomber. In Finding (2018), two families over seven generations through wars, depressions, disasters, protest, and social change. Finding was Highly Commended in the New Zealand Heritage Book Awards 2018. In 2021, David published an exciting war adventure inspired by the Coastwatchers of Operation Pacific. Coastwatcher (Penguin) was the winner of the 2022 NZSA Heritage Children's Book Award. 

Below, a novel about two teenagers trapped in a cave collapse, was published through Penguin Books NZ in 2023. Later that same year, it won the Junior Fiction Award at the 2023 NZCYA Awards.  

His next novel, Stepping Up (2026), follows Ben in the aftermath of a risky decision and its grievous consequences during a hiking trip.  

David has published a number of biographical picture books about various New Zealand legends, all illustrated by Phoebe Morris and published by Penguin Books. David began in 2015 with First to the Top: Sir Edmund Hillary’s Amazing Everest Adventure, about one of the first successful climbers of Mt. Everest, and the first New Zealander to do so — Sir Edmund Hillary. First to the Top was listed as a Storylines Notable Book for 2016 and won the Non-Fiction Award in the Children's Choice segment of the 2016 NZCYA Awards. 

Next was Speed King: Burt Munro, the World's Fastest Indian, published August 2016. Based on the true story of Burt Munro, Speed King offers a wonderfully visual retelling of a about an elderly Kiwi legend who broke a world record on an even older motorcycle. 

Sky High: Jean Batten's Incredible Flying Adventure (2017) recounts the life of the daring aviator Jean Batten, internationally famous for her record-breaking solo flights. Sky High was a finalist for the 2018 NZ Children's Book Awards for the Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction and winner of the Russell Clark Award for Illustration. Also in 2018, it was listed among Storylines Book Awards Notable Non-fiction. 

Published in 2018, Hero of the Sea: Sir Peter Blake's Mighty Ocean Quests is about world-renowned New Zealand yachtsman, adventurer, and environmentalist.  

The following year, David wrote a way for young children to discover how Joan Wiffen proved New Zealand once had dinosaurs in Dinosaur Hunter: Joan Wiffen's Awesome Fossil Discoveries (2019). This was awarded the Storylines Notable Picture Book award and highly commended at the NZ Booklovers Awards in 2020. This set was followed with Taking the Lead: How Jacinda Ardern Wowed the World (2020) about this trailblazing political leader. 

50 years after her famous hīkoi, David wrote and published Mother of the Nation: Whina Cooper and the Long Walk for Justice (2025), a picture book about the life of Dame Whina Cooper, champion of Māori and women’s rights in New Zealand. Mother of the Nation was published both in English and Te Reo, with illustrations by Story Hemi-Morehouse and translated by Stacey Morrison. In 2025, it was a Storylines Notable Non-fiction Book.  

The 2026 addition to this series was Giant Heart: How Jonah Lomu Became a Rugby Legend, which is about Jonah Lomu, one of the greatest All Blacks of all time, and the youngest to receive a jersey. Giant Heart was illustrated by Michel Mulipola.   

David is a passionate advocate for reading and a beloved part of the Aotearoa literary community whose influence extends beyond what the eye can see. Generations of readers have been inspired and seen by his characters and stories. 

He lives in New Plymouth with his wife Beth, where he continues to read and write; and fiercely champion the importance of others doing the same.