I am the best selling, award-winning author and illustrator of the Puffin the Architect series. My picture book illustrations have been widely acclaimed. In 2019, the first story I wrote and illustrated, Puffin the Architect (2018), won the Russell Clark Award for Illustration and was a finalist for Best Picture Book in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. It also won a Storylines Notable Picture Book Award as well as the NZ Booklovers Award for Best Children’s Book. It has been published in five languages, with rights sold to Romania, Russia, China, Taiwan, Korea and Turkey.
​
More stories followed featuring favourite animal characters from Puffin the Architect's charming world: Hound the Detective, highly commended by Storylines and a finalist for the Best Picture Book Award in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults 2021, Moose the Pilot, a Storylines Notable Picture Book 2021 and Russel Clark Award for Illustration finalist, New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults 2022, Goose the Artist, a Storylines Notable Picture Book 2022 and most recently Giraffe the Gardener in 2025. My latest project The Big Book of Kiwi Nursery Rhymes publishes in October 2026 with Walker Books.
​
I live with my husband and two young daughters in a small shipping-container house near Wellington, where I illustrate and write. My husband and I also run our business Tumbleweed Tees, screen-printed clothing featuring my illustrations of New Zealand plants and wildlife.

Photo credit: David Unwin