Paula Green is a poet, children’s author, anthologist, blogger, reviewer and book-award judge. She lives in Bethells Valley, West Auckland, with her partner, artist Michael Hight. She is the author of 12 poetry collections, including four for children. She has taught creative writing at all levels, and runs two blogs, NZ Poetry Box and NZ Poetry Shelf. She has edited the anthologies Dear Heart: 150 New Zealand Love Poems and A Treasury of New Zealand Poetry for Children, and with Harry Ricketts co-authored 99 Ways into New Zealand Poetry which was shortlisted for the New Zealand Book Awards (2011). She edited the 2007 edition of Best New Zealand Poems and judged the Secondary School Poetry Competition in 2008.

Paula has been a regular contributor to Storylines Festivals and Story Tours as well as other New Zealand literary festivals. She performs and undertakes workshops, poetry performances and poetry discussions in schools from Years 0-13 throughout New Zealand. She has had a parallel literary career as a children’s author since 2006 and has published six books for children including the award-winning Letterbox Cat and Other Poems. Her first children’s book, Flamingo Bendalingo: Poems from the Zoo, was published by Auckland University Press in 2006. The collection is written by Paula but includes poems by 50 children, with illustrations by Michael Hight. The Letterbox Cat (Scholastic) with illustrations by Myles Lawford was shortlisted for the LIANZA Children’s Book Awards and won the Children’s Choice Non-Fiction Award at the 2015 NZ Book Awards for Children and Young adults. A Treasury of NZ Poems for Children (Random House) was edited by Paula and illustrated by Jenny Cooper. This collection includes the poetry of beloved children’s authors such as Joy Cowley, Margaret Mahy, Peter Bland, David Hill and Kyle Mewburn, poets such as Hone Tuwhare, Janet Frame and Jenny Bornholdt, new voices, and poems written by 50 New Zealand children. In 2019 Paula had three new books out: Groovy Fish and Other Poems (The Cuba Press, children’s poems); The Track (Seraph Press, adult poems); Wild Honey: Reading NZ Women’s Poetry (Massey University Press).