Sky High

David Hill is a prolific and highly regarded New Zealand writer, playwright, poet, columnist, and critic. He is best known for his award-winning body of work for young people, which ranges from picture books to teenage fiction. His novels have been published globally and translated into several languages, and his short stories and plays for young people have been broadcast both in New Zealand and internationally.

Born in Napier, New Zealand, David studied at Victoria University of Wellington and worked as a high-school teacher in New Zealand and the UK. He became a full-time writer in 1982. His first novel for teenagers, See Ya, Simon (1992), which tells the story of a boy with muscular dystrophy, was shortlisted for major awards in New Zealand and the UK and won the 1994 Times Educational Supplement Award for Special Needs. See Ya, Simon remains an enduringly popular novel, used as a class text in high schools across New Zealand, and in 2002 it received the Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-loved Book.

Over the past three decades, David has published more than 40 titles. His recent junior novels include My Brother’s War (2012), which won the Junior Fiction Award and the Children’s Choice Junior Fiction Award at the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2013, as well as the LIANZA Librarian’s Choice Award. It was also recognized as a Storylines Notable Junior Fiction book, a White Raven, and an IBBY Honour book. Other notable novels are Brave Company (2014), also a Storylines Notable Junior Fiction book; The Deadly Sky (2015); and Enemy Camp (2016). Enemy Camp, which focuses on an incident at the Featherston Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in 1943, won the 2016 HELL Children’s Choice Award for Junior Fiction.

David has also authored critically acclaimed picture books, including First to the Top (2015), an account of the life of Sir Edmund Hillary, which was a 2016 Storylines Notable Picture Book, and Speed King (2016), about Burt Munro’s world-record-breaking achievements. Both picture books were illustrated by Phoebe Morris.

In recognition of his significant contributions to children’s literature in New Zealand, David was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004 and was awarded the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal in 2005.

He currently resides in New Plymouth with his wife, Beth. He balances his writing commitments with frequent school visits, professional development sessions for teachers, mentoring emerging writers, and tutoring creative writing.

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