Dr Paula Jane Kiri Morris is a novelist, short story writer and essayist of English and Māori (Ngati Wai) descent. She has received numerous fellowships, international residencies and awards for her writing, including best work of fiction at both the NZ Post Book Awards and Nga Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards in 2012 for her novel Rangatira. Her stories are widely anthologised and broadcast, and her 2008 collection, Forbidden Cities, was a regional finalist in the Commonwealth Prize. Paula has a D. Phil from the University of York and an MFA from the University of Iowa. She spent several decades, living overseas, working in London and New York, and since 2003 she has taught creative writing at universities, including Tulane University in New Orleans, and the University of Sheffield in England. She now teaches creative writing at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and is the founder of the Academy of New Zealand Literature.