Marcia Stenson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stenson, Marcia (1940- ) writes historical non-fiction for adults and children. Born in Wellington, she has lived in Auckland for most of her life. She has worked as a history teacher for 37 years.

Stenson has been published regularly since 1972. Many of her books have become classroom standards for teachers of New Zealand history. Stenson's major achievement 'has been to make history accessible to others.'

In 2007, she won Book of the Year and Best in Non-Fiction at the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults for Illustrated History of the South Pacific (Random House, 2006). Dorothy Vinicombe’s review in the New Zealand Herald for this book says: ‘While it may have been written with children in mind, this lively account will also have wide appeal for adults looking for a general history...’

Other books by Stenson include: Imperialism 1987-1914 (Heinneman Education, 1972), The Story of New Zealand with K. Sinclair and J. Bassett (Reed, 1985), A Century of Change: New Zealand 1800-1900 with Erik Olssen (Longman Paul, 1989), The Treaty of Waitangi with Tu Williams (Longman, 1990), New Faces, New Places Historical Resource Workbook (Longman Paul, 1992), The Illustrated History of New Zealand (Random House & Whitcoulls, 2003), The Treaty: Every New Zealander’s Guide (Random House, 2005).

The Illustrated History of the South Pacific (Random House New Zealand) and The Illustrated History of Antarctica (Random House New Zealand) were listed as Storylines Notable Non-Fiction Books in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

WRITERS IN SCHOOLS INFORMATION

Kapai – Children’s questions for writers

Where do you live?
Ponsonby, Auckland.

What books do you read?
History books, biographies and novels.

Who are your favourite writers?
Henning Mankell – a Swedish writer of detective stories.

How do you think up your ideas?
I go for long walks and ideas pop into my head while I am thinking of the bush and the tramp.

What is the best thing about being a writer?
I enjoy reading and researching a topic and finding out about people’s lives in the past. Finding out what was important to them and why.

Primary School Students
What sort of pets do you have?
A cat

What is your favourite colour?
Red or blue

What is your favourite food?
Rice dishes

What is your favourite movie?
Burnt by the Sun – about Stalinist Russia

What is your favourite game?
Snap – because you don’t have to think too hard

What is the most fun thing about being an author?
Doing the reading before you start writing

How do you make books?
You read, you write, and try to tell the story in the most interesting way

Where do you go for your holidays?
To the beach, or tramp in the bush

What was the naughtiest thing you ever did at school?
I was good all the time! My father was the teacher so I couldn’t be bad without my parents knowing

Secondary School Students
How did you get started?
By being a teacher and realising that most books the students used were too hard for many students

Who inspired you when you were getting started?
My university teacher – Keith Sinclair who showed me how to write short, sharp sentences

What advice would you give an aspiring young writer?
Stick to it

Is it difficult to make a living writing in New Zealand?
Yes, because the number of people who buy books is small – you need to write ones which aim at a bigger market

What were you like as a teenager?
Quiet, keen on sports, jokey with my friends