Rachael Craw
BornChristchurch
OccupationWriter
NationalityNew Zealand
EducationUniversity of Canterbury
Notable awardsChildren's Choice Award in the Young Adult Fiction Category (2016)
Website
rachaelcraw.com

Rachael Craw is a New Zealand writer of fantasy, romance and YA sci-fi cross-over books. She is an English and Drama teacher and lives in Nelson with her husband and three children.

Biography

Rachael Craw was born and raised in Christchurch.[1] She completed a degree in Classical Studies and Drama at the University of Canterbury[2][3] and then trained as a secondary school teacher[1] and taught English for several years at Christchurch Girls' High School and Rangi Ruru Girls' College.[4]

After the 2010 Canterbury earthquake and 2011 Christchurch earthquake, Rachael and her husband and three daughters stayed in their home in a red-zoned street in Christchurch for two years before moving to Nelson.[5]

Rachael describes herself as being fascinated with words from an early age, and remembers being thrilled to receive her first lockable diary. She has kept journals for many years and was naturally drawn to poetry and scriptwriting. Her interest in and love for the spoken word have developed into a passion for creating good dialogue, an aspect of writing that she enjoys the most.[6]

Before beginning the Spark trilogy, she acted, directed and wrote for amateur theatre productions and small independent film ventures.[2]

The idea for her first book, Spark, came from a dream. It took five years to write, under the mentorship of Barbara Else and Chris Else (who later became her agents as TFS Literary Agency]).[7] Rachael then had a one-year deadline to write each of the next two books in the trilogy.[5]

Rachael has appeared at a number of literary festivals, including the Perth International Arts Festival 2015,[5][8] Auckland Writers Festival Schools Programme 2015,[9] WORD Christchurch Writers & Readers Festival 2016,[10] Somerset Celebration of Literature, Queensland, 2017,[11] State Library Victoria Reading Matters Conference and Regional Tour of Victoria, 2018[12] and the Storylines Auckland Story Tours 2018.[13] She is active on social media and has the support of the #SparkArm] campaign of teen readers, started by a group of Australian YA book bloggers.[5][14] Her character Jamie in Spark was nominated for the Teencon Book Boyfriend Battle as part of Sydney's Writers Festival 2015.[5][15]

Her work has been compared to the worldwide hit series The Hunger Games.[16][17] She cites some of her own favourite authors as Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Knox, Kate Atkinson and Maggie Stiefvater.[6]

Awards and prizes 

Craw's first novel Spark was named as a Storylines Notable Book for Young Adult Fiction (2015);[18] it was on the State Library Victoria Inky Awards Silver Inky Award shortlist (2015)[19] and the LIANZA Children's Book Awards Longlist (2015) and was a New Zealand Book Awards Children's Choice Finalist for Young Adult Fiction (2015).[20] It has been recently optioned for film by Miss Conception Films.[1]

Stray was the Winner of the Children's Choice Award in the Young Adult Fiction Category for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults (2016).[21]

Bibliography

  • Spark (Walker Books, Australia, 2014)
  • Stray (Walker Books, Australia, 2015)
  • Shield (Walker Books Australia, 2016)
  • The Rift (Walker Books Australia, 2018)

E-books

  • Kill Switch (Walker Books Australia, 2015)
  • Black Room (Walker Books Australia, 2015)
  • Scar Tissue (Walker Books Australia, 2015)

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Craw, Rachael". New Zealand Book Council Te Haunihera Pukapuka o Aotearoa. July 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Authors & Illustrators: Rachael Craw". Walker Books Australia & New Zealand. 6 September 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  3. ↑ "Rachael Craw - highly anticipated new YA book". Scoop. 1 June 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  4. ↑ "Member Profile: Rachael Craw". The Top of the South Branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Interview with Rachael Craw, author of Spark". Sue Copsey website. 18 April 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  6. 1 2 "Meet Rachael Craw". WordMothers. 15 December 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  7. ↑ "Interview: Rachael Craw, author of Spark". NZ Booklovers. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  8. ↑ "Check out this super exciting event". Rachael Craw. 17 February 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  9. ↑ "UK literary sensation, Anthony Horowitz headlines Festival's Schools' Programme". Auckland Writers Festival. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  10. ↑ "WORD Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival 2016". Christchurch City Libraries Nga Kete Wananga-o-Otautahi. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  11. ↑ "Storyfest Authors and Illustrators 2018: Rachael Craw". Somerset Storyfest. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  12. ↑ "Looking back: Reading Matters". Rachael Craw. 10 September 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  13. ↑ "Storylines National Festival Story Tour". Storylines. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  14. ↑ "Meet the amazing #SparkArmy". Rachael Craw. 28 December 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  15. ↑ "Teen Con Book Boyfriend Battle". Rachael Craw. 24 May 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  16. ↑ "Like The Hunger Games? Try these New Zealand books". Auckland Council Libraries Nga Pataka Korero o Tamaki Makaurau. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  17. ↑ "Books: Spark by Rachael Craw". Walker Books Australia & New Zealand. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  18. ↑ "Notable Books List 2015". Storylines. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  19. ↑ "Media Release: Australia's favourite young adult authors shortlisted for Inky Awards" (PDF). State Library Victoria. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  20. ↑ "Rachael Craw". NZSA The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc) Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  21. ↑ "Past winners: 2016". NZ Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
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