Based in Wellington, Fleur Beale has written over twenty novels for teenagers. In 1992, Beale released her first novel Slide the Corner, which subsequently won the Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award in 2007. She has been shortlisted several times in the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards, and in 2011 her novel Fierce September won the Awards’ Young Adult Fiction section. Beale won the 2012 Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal. She regularly participates in the Writers in Schools programme and also leads professional development sessions for teachers. Photo and bio courtesy of Read NZ.