CONTRIBUTORS

Behind the scenes

Past: Naomi left the bright lights of Te Puke for the University of Otago in 2000 to study English literature. She then taught English in South Korea for three years and fell in love with the language, food, and people. In 2008, she returned home to study journalism at the University of Canterbury and was lucky enough to score a three- month scholarship to Antarctica, where her interest in science writing took hold.

She spent the next five years as a science, environment, and health reporter and feature writer at the Nelson Mail before turning to full-time freelancing in 2014.

Present: Naomi now writes full-time from home in

Nelson, where she enjoys reading, running, cycling, tramping, the beach, and continuing to learn — and cook — Korean. She writes for newspapers and magazines on many diff erent topics, but still with a strong focus on environment and science. That enthusiasm for all things scientific extends to her agreeing to write a column for this issue on epigenetics (see page 65). Last November, she published her fourth book, Southern Nights, the story of New Zealand’s fascinating history of astronomy.

Future: Naomi is working on a new book while continuing to write a broad range of articles and stories for mainstream media, business, and education. She’s looking forward to spending more time exploring the mountains of the top of the South Island on foot and by bike and plans to tackle Te Araroa in the next few years. She also has lots of plans for developing her rural property with her husband Doug, including restoring native trees, building an observatory and an outdoor sauna. She also intends to develop a writer’s retreat to host authors needing a place to work on their latest project in peace. naomiarnold. net