Meet Pip

My nomadic life around New Zealand as a child and teen sparked my love of travel. In the late 1980’s, after graduating from the University of Otago, I left home shores for an extended period of work and travel in the UK and Europe. My journey through the former Yugoslavia in 1989 informed The Telling Time, before the story took on a magic all of its own. 

My food science training led me into sensory evaluation roles at New Zealand Dairy Research Institute and CM Research — I conducted taste testing studies on products as diverse as butter, chocolate and beer! Later, as Mum to three boys, I turned my focus to work in the not-for-profit sector and held the role of President at Coeliac New Zealand (2015/16).

In 2017, I was accepted into the Masters in Creative Writing programme at the University of Auckland. My passion for writing then took precedence. In 2018, I was awarded a Creative New Zealand/NZSA Complete Manuscript Assessment award for The Telling Time. It was a thrill to learn that the novel’s opening won the 2020 First Pages Prize, judged by an international panel and Sebastian Faulks, OBE.

I love the power of words — how they stop us in our tracks to ponder, or transport us to far-off times and places with cinematic detail. It doesn’t matter which hat I wear — wife, mother, friend, author — connections are the most important and the links forged within the local Croatian community while researching stories of New Zealand’s Croatian immigrants have been particularly inspirational. I’m grateful and humbled by the support from my cohort of fellow writers, an ever expanding and talented group, who are proof of New Zealand’s thriving literary scene.

Auckland is home now for my husband John and I, but we love welcoming our three sons whenever they come to visit. Keeping fit is a priority and I love walking, tramping, cooking, discussing books, drinking wine, sharing stories — and travelling, of course.