I am a New Zealand cultural anthropologist, adventurer and travel author living in France. My writing comes from deep immersion usually through work or volunteer experiences. I investigate and write about social movements, social history, music, counter-culture, community and utopic ideas.
I am fascinated by people’s life stories and how they are shaped and reflect larger social, historic and economic processes in our interlinked world.
Full bio
My travels started early; I was born in Kenya, grew up among Shona people in Zimbabwe where my parents were teaching, and later among Pakeha and Maori in New Zealand where my parents had a small farm.
Walking with buffalo, Zimbabwe
Strange post-empire education in Zimbabwe
Planting broccoli with geriatric tractor, New Zealand
I studied anthropology, ecology and French and then later a Masters in agricultural development, and set off to work and live around the world. Many ecclectic jobs, studies, volunteer stints and passions have informed my writing.
Cycling through the Spiny desert in Madagascar with a guitar for conservation work.
Managing an environmental NGO with Comorian women for conservation, Comoros Islands
Researching migration in Nepal.
Working on a New Zealand farm
Interviewing farmers in France.
Storytelling at festivals in France.
Studying wine in France.
In 2014, after long periods in the Indian Ocean, New Zealand and Nepal, I arrived in France, joined a shared flat with my boyfriend and seven other young French people and inadvertently set out to explore the alternative sides of France, which I recount in a book : ‘What makes your heart sing?’
My writing has been published in:
- World Nomads
- The Art of Eating
- Lonely Planet
- The Otago Daily Times
- World Wildlife Fund Blog
- The Northern Advocate
- Critic Magazine
- Seagrass Watch
- African Conservation
- Multiple scientifc publications
Inspirations for my writing
George Orwell’s accounts of Paris and London,
Joan Didion’s essays on America and Gloria Steinem’s stories from the road,
Laurie Lee’s and Nicolas Bouvier’s poetry and joie de vivre,
Nellie Bly’s daring investigative journalism.