Lauren Keenan (Te Atiawa) writes historical fiction and history non-fiction. Amorangi and Millie’s Trip Through Time (2022) was a finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and won the New Zealand Booklovers Award 2023. Novel The Space Between (2024) sat in the New Zealand bestseller charts for five months, was one of the top-ten bestselling New Zealand fiction books of 2024, and won the New Zealand Booklovers Award 2025. Her latest book, non-fiction Toitū Te Whenua: Places and Peoples of the New Zealand Wars (2025) sat in the New Zealand bestseller charts for four weeks.

If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be and why?

Jane Austen