Cassia Joy Cowley ONZ DCNZM OBE (née Summers; born 7 August 1936) is a New Zealand author best known for her children's fiction, including the popular series of books Mrs.

[1][2][3] Cowley started out writing novels for adults, and her first book, Nest in a Falling Tree (1967), was adapted for the screen by Roald Dahl.

Following its success in the United States, Cowley wrote several other novels, including Man of Straw (1972), Of Men and Angels (1972), The Mandrake Root (1975), and The Growing Season (1979).

[citation needed] Cowley has written forty-one picture books, such as The Duck in the Gun (1969), The Terrible Taniwha of Timberditch (1982), Salmagundi (1985), and The Cheese Trap (1995).

[citation needed] In 1990, Cowley was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal, and in the 1992 New Year Honours she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to children's literature.

[7][3] In 1993, Cowley became the third recipient of the Margaret Mahy Award, whose winners present and publish a lecture concerning children's literature or literacy.

[7][11][12][13] In the 2005 Queen’s Birthday Honours, Cowley was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM), for services to children's literature.

[18] She lived with him, and an assortment of animals, for many years in the Marlborough Sounds, but in 2004 they moved to a wharf apartment in Wellington so Coles could be nearer medical services.