Gwenda Turner Gwenda Turner i(A44476 works by) (a.k.a. Gwenda Mary Turner)
Born: Established: 11 May 1947 Kyogle, Kyogle area, Far Northeast NSW, New South Wales, ; Died: Ceased: 15 Feb 2001 Christchurch, Canterbury, South Island,
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New Zealand,
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Pacific Region,
Gender: Female
Departed from Australia: ca. 1967
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BiographyHistory

Gwenda Turner (nee Williams) moved to New Zealand when she was nineteen. After some time on Norfolk Island, where she worked as a graphic design consultant and ran a handcraft studio, she moved to Christchurch in 1974 and in 1977 her first book, Akaroa: Banks Peninsula, New Zealand (1977) was published. Turner became one of New Zealand's best known picture book artists and in 1984 her book The Tree Witches won the NZ Library Association's Russell Clark Award for the most distinguished children's picture book published in New Zealand in 1983.

Turner's most ambitious work, titled Gwenda Turner's Christchurch : An Enchanted Journey Through the Garden City (1999) was a tribute to the city she loved. Many of her children's books were based on real events in New Zealand including Bears in the Park (1995), which is set around the annual Teddy Bears Picnic in Hagley Park; and The Builder's Cat (1999) and Penny and Pocket (2001), which were based on local news stories.

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • For more information about this writer, refer to Kerry White Australian Children's Books: A Bibliography, Vols. 2 and 3.
Last amended 29 Jan 2008 11:58:09
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