I am an experienced manuscript assessor who has been writing fiction for adults and children for more than 40 years, and running creative writing workshops for 20 years - in New Zealand.

My publications include:

Man with Two Arms (Vintage, 1992) - short story collection

The Birdman Hunts Alone (Penguin, 1994) - children's novel short-listed for the 1995 Aim Children's Book Awards

The Dump Giants (Cape Catley, 1997) - picture book

Desert Shorts (Canterbury University Press, 1999) - short story collection

Dog Breath (Mallinson Rendel, 1999) - short story collection for teenagers short-listed for the 2000 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards

A Short History of Paradise (Penguin, 2005) - novel

I have appeared in The Best NZ Fiction, volumes 1, 2, 5 & 6, and I have won the Sunday Times Short Story Competition twice. I have written for the NZ School Journals for over forty years; I have judged several writing awards in New Zealand, and my book reviews have appeared in The Dominion, The Evening Post, The Dompost, The New Zealand Herald, The Listener, Landfall and New Zealand Books.

I have received several Creative New Zealand project grants, and I was the 1999 writer-in-residence at Canterbury University.

I believe the best - maybe the only - way to write is to begin writing, then get informed feedback and keep on writing.

For more information check the following interview with Norman and Radio New Zealand National stories. Further details are available on Writers on the NZ Book council website: www.bookcouncil.org.nz, the NZSA website: www.authors.org.nz and the New Zealand Association of Manuscript Assessors website: NZAMA.