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Profile
Neville Peat is a natural historian, environmental writer and biographer. He says of his work: ‘Although they range from Tokelau to Antarctica, my books have a mostly Southern New Zealand focus, with natural history and geography being major themes. In the Lark titles, I have incorporated fictional elements to help readers tune into southern landscapes and seascapes’.
Selected published works
Stewart Island: A Rakiura Ramble, 2000; Coasting: The Sea Lion and the Lark, 2001; Kiwi: The People’s Bird, 2006; Winging It: The Adventures of Tim Wallis, 2006; Antarctic Partners: 50 Years of New Zealand and United States Cooperation in Antarctica, 1957-2007, 2007; Detours: A Journey Through Small-town New Zealand (A Generation On), 2007; New Zealand’s Fiord Heritage: A Guide to the Historic Sites of Coastal Fiordland, 2007; High Country Lark: An Invitation to Paradise, 2008.
Publishers
Longacre Press
www.longacre.co.nz
Otago University Press
www.otago.ac.nz
Biography
Neville Peat was born in 1947 in Dunedin where he still lives. He is a fifth-generation descendant of Scottish pioneers. He has worked as a journalist and an information officer with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research’s (DSIR) Antarctic Division. He is a study tour leader on the expedition ship Clipper Odyssey. He was an Otago Regional Councillor (1998-2007) and the Deputy Chairperson (2004-2007).
Peat has been writing since 1986 and has published over 40 titles. He is also a photographer and has illustrated many of his natural histories, guides, and studies of birds, especially those indigenous to New Zealand such as the kiwi, penguin, albatross and the New Zealand falcon. His book, Wild Dunedin: Enjoying the Natural History of New Zealand’s Wildlife Capital (1995) with Brian Patrick, won the Natural Heritage category at the 1996 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. Wild Fiordland: Discovering the Natural History of a World Heritage Area (1996), also with Brian Patrick, was short-listed for the same prize in 1997. Other titles include his best-selling biography, Hurricane Tim: The Story of Sir Tim Wallis (2005). His adaptation of the same biography for children, Winging It: The Adventures of Tim Wallis (2006) was a finalist in the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards 2007. Detours: A Journey Through Small-town New Zealand (A Generation On) documents a marathon bike-ride from Cape Reinga to Stewart Island in search of 'heartland' New Zealand.
Peat was awarded the 2007 Creative New Zealand Michael King Writers’ Fellowship, New Zealand’s largest literary prize, for a major study of the Tasman Sea, including its nature, geography, human history, natural resources, and the communities living on its shores. He will also write the final story in his Lark trilogy. The setting is in the mountains at the head of Lake Wakatipu.
Neville Peat’s website is www.nevillepeatsnewzealand.com
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