Katherine Mansfield was a New Zealand modernist writer best remembered for her short stories. Her life and career inspired several films, plays, novels, and TV series. In 1973, she became the subject of a BBC miniseries titled A Picture of Katherine Mansfield. In 2011, actress Kate Elliott played Mansfield in a TV biopic titled Bliss.
2 Richard Curtis(Screenwriter, Film director, Film producer, Television producer, Writer)


Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton is a New Zealand-born woman who was wrongfully accused of killing her nine-week-old daughter, Azaria. The child went missing when her family was on a camping trip, and Lindy was accused of killing the child after Azaria’s bloody clothes were found. She was later officially pardoned by the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.
4 Christine Leunens(Novelist)

5 Ngaio Marsh(Writer, Theatre director, Novelist, Autobiographer, Screenwriter, Stage actor, Film actor)

6 Fran Walsh(Screenwriter, film producer who has won three Academy Awards for the final film of the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)

7 Peter Hillary(Mountaineer)

8 Sonja Yelich(Poet who has won acclaim for poetry collections like Clung (2004) and Get Some (2008))

9 Janet Frame(Novelist, Essayist, Poet, Writer, Short story writer)

10 Eleanor Catton(The youngest author ever to win the prize (at age 28) and only the second New Zealander)

11 Sir Hugh Walpole(Novelist)

12 Ryan Nelsen(Association football player, Writer, Association football manager)

13 Keri Hulme(Novelist)

14 Witi Ihimaera(Author)

15 Margaret Mahy(Author)

16 Chloe Gong(Author of young adult fiction)

17 Michael King(Historian & Biographer)
Michael King was a New Zealand biographer, historian, and author. He is remembered for writing a book titled Penguin History of New Zealand, which became a best-seller and the most famous New Zealand book in the year 2004. A much-respected writer, King won several literary awards, such as the Feltex television writers' award and Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement.
18 James K. Baxter(Poet)

19 Patricia Grace(Writer)

20 Ruth Park(Author)

21 Eric Partridge(Lexicographer)

22 Fleur Adcock(Poet)
Fleur Adcock is a New Zealand poet and editor. She is of English and Northern Irish ancestry and has lived much of her life in England. She studied Classics at Victoria University of Wellington and began her career as an assistant lecturer at the University of Otago. She has worked as a freelance writer since 1980.
23 Joy Cowley(Children's fiction, including the popular series of books Mrs. Wishy-Washy)

24 Maurice Gee(Novelist)

25 Nicky Hager(Investigative Journalist and Author)

26 Hone Tuwhare(Author)

27 Ronald Mathias Lockley(Ornithologist)

28 Frank Sargeson(Writer)

29 Allen Curnow(Poet)

30 Sylvia Ashton-Warner(Writer)

31 Kapka Kassabova(Poet)

32 Douglas Stewart(Poet)

Douglas Stewart was a 20th-century Australian poet, writer, essayist, and editor. He served as the literary editor of the Australian magazine, The Bulletin, for two decades. He published 13 collections of poetry and numerous short stories, essays, and articles in his prolific career. He also edited several poetry anthologies. He received the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1967.
33 Maurice Shadbolt(Writer)

34 C.K. Stead(Author)

35 Murray Chandler(Chess player, Writer)

36 Robert Wade(Chess Player)

37 Frederick Edward Maning(Writer)

38 Mary Anne Barker(Author)

39 Jane Mander(Novelist)

40 Sir Keith Sinclair(Writer)

41 Lydia Wevers(Literary historian whose research focussed on New Zealand literature and print culture, as well as Australian literature)
