Emily Justine Perkins MNZM (born 1970) is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer, playwright and university lecturer.

It was tipped by the Hay Festival to win the 2012 Man Booker Prize,[15] but failed to reach the longlist.

[1] In 2013 Perkins became a senior lecturer at the International Institute of Modern Letters (part of Victoria University in Wellington).

[1] Perkins was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to literature.

[5] A review in The New Zealand Herald noted that Perkins is best-known as a novelist but the play "shows she's a brilliant playwright, too", having created "a provocative script packed with wry observations, an unexpected twist or two and all-too-familiar characters and situations".

[20] The prize judges commented: "Disturbing, deep, smart, and funny as hell, Lioness is unforgettable".

[22] It had previously been selected by Steve Braunias as the 2023 Newsroom book of the year, who said it "has the exact feel of New Zealand life as lived by the wealthy, accumulating their total fucking crap and generally having a really good time".