Emma Neale is the author of seven novels, seven collections of poetry, and a collection of short stories. Emma is a former editor of Landfall. She has received several literary fellowships, residencies and awards, including the Lauris Edmond Memorial Award for a Distinguished Contribution to New Zealand Poetry 2020 and the Janet Frame Prize 2025. Her seventh poetry collection, Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit (Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2024) won the Peter and Mary Biggs Poetry Prize at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Emma and her husband have raised two children: one, now an adult, works as a music teacher and professional musician; the other is still enrolled at high school. Emma lives in Ōtepoti/Dunedin where she works as a freelance editor for New Zealand and overseas publishers.