Paula Boock facts for kids

Paula Boock (born 1964) is a talented writer and editor from New Zealand. She has created many stories, especially for young adults, and has also worked on popular television shows.

Early Life and Career

Paula Boock was born in Dunedin, a city in New Zealand. She grew up in a family that loved sports. She has four brothers, and two of them, Stephen Boock and Richard Boock, are well-known in the sports world. Paula herself played cricket for her home region, Otago.

She went to the University of Otago to study. After finishing her studies, she started working as an editor and publisher. In 1994, she helped start a publishing company called Longacre Press in Dunedin.

Writing for Young Adults

Paula Boock first wrote plays and short stories. Soon after university, she began writing novels. Many of her books and TV scripts are made especially for young adults, which means they are perfect for readers aged 12-14.

Her first novel, Out Walked Mel, came out in 1991. It won the AIM Best First Book Award, which was a great start to her writing career. She continued to win awards for other books, including Sasscat to Win (1993), Home Run (1996), and Dare, Truth, or Promise. Dare, Truth, or Promise won the 1998 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards and was also recognized in the United States for its important themes.

Television Scriptwriting

In 1995, Paula started writing for television with an episode of the drama series Cover Story. She became more involved in scriptwriting around 2000, joining the team of writers for the Gibson Group series The Strip. An episode she co-wrote with Kathryn Burnett won an award for Best Drama Script at the 2003 New Zealand Television Awards.

Later, Paula wrote scripts for other TV shows like The Insiders Guide to Happiness and its prequel, The Insider's Guide To Love. She also worked as an editor and script consultant for popular shows such as Bro'Town and Burying Brian.

Lippy Pictures Production Company

In 2007, Paula Boock and Donna Malane started their own production company called Lippy Pictures. This company has created several exciting projects. One of them was Time Trackers, a children's drama about time travel. Time Trackers was nominated for best children's drama at the 2009 Australian Film Institute Awards.

Lippy Pictures also produced the TV movie Until Proven Innocent, which won many awards at New Zealand's 2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards. Paula has co-written other scripts for Lippy Pictures, including Bloodlines, another award-winning series, and Tangiwai - A Love Story. Tangiwai - A Love Story tells the dramatic story of the 1953 Tangiwai train disaster.

Awards and Fellowships

Paula Boock has been recognized for her writing talent with several special positions. In 1994, she was the Writer in Residence at the Dunedin College of Education. In 1999, she was named the Burns Fellow at the University of Otago, which is a very important award for writers in New Zealand. She was also the Writer in Residence at Victoria University in 2009.