H.S Valley

She won the Ampersand Prize for her debut YA novel, Tim Te Maro and the Subterranean Heartsick Blues. She likes hot drinks in cool mugs, nature, fruit and driving the hell out of Auckland any chance she gets.

Her life long ambition was to marry rich and retire at 30. She failed, so now works a full time while also writing books and trying desperately to keep 176 houseplants alive. The best thing about being an author, she says, is getting paid and immediately spending all the money on plants and dresses and lego. The worst thing is people continuously asking her if she’s excited. (Spoiler: she isn’t, she hasn’t excited in years, it feels too much like hard work).