Denis Martin

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Martin, Denis (1948 - ) is an author.

Denis Martin was born in Christchurch. He was a secondary school English teacher and librarian for 28 years before deciding to devote himself to full time writing.

Martin has written for the Fishing Industry Board in conjunction with the Department of Education and has had several magazine articles published in NZ Motorhomes, Caravans & Camping, and AA Directions. Martin began writing junior fiction to encourage more children to read. He aims to show realistic characters facing plausible problems involving tension, suspense and danger.

His first junior fiction novel Face it (Penguin NZ, 2006) has a plot involving political activism, the trials of relationships, and survival against the odds. Dorothy Vinicombe described Face It as a novel that ‘combines a suspenseful, fast-paced storyline with thoughtful characterisation.’(New Zealand Herald, 16 March 2006) The work was shortlisted for LIANZA’s Esther Glen Award in 2006, and was listed as a 2007 Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction Book.

Playing for Keeps (Penguin NZ, 2007) is a thriller, focussed on the death of a young girl’s father and what happens to the teenage protagonists when the bad guys think they know too much. John McIntyre describes it as ‘... a tight thriller – I couldn’t put it down…He’s done a superb job with the two main characters – they’re beautifully developed, loyal, brave and resourceful’. (‘Nine to Noon’, Radio New Zealand National, 13 April 2007)

The Silence of Fear (Penguin NZ, 2008) features some of the characters from both Playing for Keeps and Face It in a new adventure, with Pip, Greg and Rikkers discovering that keeping quiet about a crime can be dangerous for everybody. Writer Bill Nagelkerke described it as ‘immensely readable…highly charged, and recommended.’ (Magpies, September 2008)

Denis Martin lives in Blenheim.