ABOUT
Kirsten McKenzie fought international crime for fourteen years as a Customs Officer in both England and New Zealand, before leaving to work in the family antique store. Now a full time author, she lives in New Zealand with her family and alternates between writing time travel trilogies and polishing her next thriller. Her spare time is spent organising author events and appearing on literary panels at festivals around the world.
Her work has appeared in anthologies in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, including the NHS fundraiser - Noir From The Bar. She has had non-fiction pieces appear in The Spinoff, and in other local publications.
In 2024, her short story "The Watchman," part of the anthology Remains To Be Told: Dark Tales of Aotearoa, was shortlisted for the 2024 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Short Story. Remains To Be Told: Dark Tales of Aotearoa won the 2024 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Collected Work. Kirsten’s time travel novel, Ithaca Bound, was shortlisted for the 2023 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel. In 2021, her historical thriller, The Forger and the Thief, was longlisted for the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel. Her short story "Paperwork," part of the anthology Noir From The Bar, was also longlisted that same year for the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Short Story. Her paranormal thriller, Painted, was longlisted for the 2018 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel.
Kirsten’s current project is a collaboration with best selling time travel author Shawn Inmon, where she is writing time travel stories in his Middle Falls world, but shifting the story over the pond to Northumberland, to the fictional town of Cheviot Hills. The first book in the series is The Deadly Life of Diana Penn. Coming soon.