Christine Cole Catley

A fifth-generation New Zealander, Christine Cole Catley has forebears from England and Scotland and a Swedish great-grandfather. Most of them were sheep farmers and she grew up on a North Island sheep farm not far from the small town named after another of her great-grandfathers, James Bull. It is 'the only place where you can get milk from Bulls'. She went to university in the South Island, spent most of her working life in Wellington as a journalist, advertising copywriter (it was she who...See more

A fifth-generation New Zealander, Christine Cole Catley has forebears from England and Scotland and a Swedish great-grandfather. Most of them were sheep farmers and she grew up on a North Island sheep farm not far from the small town named after another of her great-grandfathers, James Bull. It is 'the only place where you can get milk from Bulls'. She went to university in the South Island, spent most of her working life in Wellington as a journalist, advertising copywriter (it was she who came up with the name kiwiberry), television critic, broadcaster and teacher of journalism, then went south again. Like many New Zealanders, she was able to live and work for many years in a beautiful but remote place - in her case the Marlborough Sounds - because of today's communication technology. Recently relocated to Auckland she writes, runs writers' workshops, reads, works as a book publisher, gardens, and goes out on the water whenever she can - that's when she's not travelling. Her three children all live overseas, and she is on her fifth passport. See less