Joanna Orwin (née Lucas;[1] born 28 November 1944) is a New Zealand writer of fiction and non-fiction for adults and children.
[4] She cites some of her favourite childhood reading as myths and legends, adventure stories like Treasure Island and Swallows and Amazons, historical fiction by Rosemary Sutcliff, Henry Treece and Geoffrey Trease and fantasy such as The Chronicles of Narnia, At the Back of the North Wind, and The Jungle Book.
[8] Her writing includes scientific papers, articles for Te Ara,[9][10][11] non-fiction history texts, novels for children and young adults and short stories in anthologies such as Down to the Sea Again (HarperCollins, 2005) and the Annual (Gecko Press, 2016).
[5] Her novels often carry underlying themes of the natural environment, New Zealand history, flora and fauna and Māori folklore and heritage,[12][13] and they are informed by her knowledge of geology and the landscape.
[21] Owl won the Senior Fiction category of the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2002.