Ko Taranaki maunga

Ko Waiwhakahio awa

Nō Ngāti te Whiti o Te Ātiawa au

Ko Lauren Keenan tōku ingoa

I tipu ake au ki Manawatū, engari, Te Whanganui-a-Tara tōku kāinga ināianei

 

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Kia ora - I'm Lauren, I call Wellington, New Zealand home, where I live with my husband, two kids, and two cats. 

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My goal 

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A massive nerd, I want history and psychology to be both interesting and accessible to a range of audiences: kids and adults alike. Especially Aotearoa New Zealand history.  

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My writing

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I write adult historical fiction, middle-grade historical fiction, short stories, popular psychology, and anything else that tickles my fancy while procrastinating from doing other things. I'm also the author of The Space Between (Penguin Random House, 2024), The 52 Week Project: How I Fixed My Life by Trying a New Thing Every Week for a Year (Allen & Unwin, 2020) and Amorangi and Millie's Trip Through Time (Huia, 2022).

 

Two more books will be out in 2024: the sequel to Amorangi and Millie's Trip Through Time, and another non-fiction. I'm also currently working on another historical fiction for adults.

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My study 

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I'm currently in my second year studying for a Diploma in Te Reo Māori at Massey University. It feels like something that has come 20 years too late and at just the right time all at once. 

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My first degree was a Master of Arts in New Zealand History with a smattering of International Relations, Māori Studies and Spanish thrown into the mix. Although I played so much Tetris I really ought to count that as my minor. 

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Other random factoids  

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 Over the past couple of years I have tried 29 new flavours of sweet pie. A #lifegoal is to discover even more types. Wish me luck.

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I love travel, and have lived in Italy, the UK and the USA (twice). But I always love coming home to where I'm from and my wider whānau.  

However, my other #lifegoal is to visit 50 countries before I am 50. At this rate I'll have more luck with the pie, but I live in hope. 

 

​My writing   successes 

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The Space Between recently making it onto the Aotearoa New Zealand Bestseller charts and being #1 on the Unity chart.

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Amorangi and Millie winning the 2023 Book Lovers Award, as well as being a finalist for the 2022 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. 

 

Being awarded a 2021 CLNZ and New Zealand Society of Authors grant to write a middle-grade novel (see details here)​.

 

Winning the 2017 Pikihuia award for best short story (find this story here) and, in 2019, being a finalist in the same awards for best emerging Māori writer. 

Participant on the 2016 Te Papa Tupu writing incubation programme.
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Blog Modern Mothercraft listed by the New Zealand Herald as being one of New Zealand's top four parenting blogs in 2014.

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