Renée, playwright, novelist, non-fiction writer and occasional poet,  has been teaching on the Whitireia Creative Writing programme for seven years.  She was born in Napier of Ngati Kahungunu and Scots ancestry and began her career writing non-fiction for newspapers, magazines and radio.   She worked in community theatre and after gaining her BA from Auckland University wrote 18 plays and 6 novels.  Her non-fiction work includes Yin & Tonic, a collection of humorous pieces, and a text book, Let’s Write Plays, for secondary students.  She has taught fiction, non-fiction and scriptwriting at Whitireia. 

“As a teacher and inveterate reader of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays, I want to read writers who go somewhere and take me with them.  I want to be moved, have fun.  I want magic.  My job as a teacher is to make sure that students get the skills to do this.”