We are so proud of one of our own graduates, Gareth Ward, who studied on the Write a Novel Course under the guidance of tutor Alex Smith.
Gareth wrote The Traitor and the Thief on the course, a thrilling steampunk adventure that readers have called ‘a cracker’ and ‘a story for all ages’. It went on to win the 2016 Storylines Tessa Duder Award, the 2018 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Youth Novel and a 2018 Storylines Notable Book Award, as well as being a finalist in two categories at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Not bad for a debut.
Gareth is candid about how much of that success he owes to his mentor and describes working through his manuscript alongside his mentor’s feedback as ideal preparation for the editorial process that followed at Walker Books.
‘There is no way I would have been published without [my tutor’s] guidance.’
~ Gareth Ward
But Gareth was just getting started. Since then, he’s built an impressive and wonderfully varied catalogue of novels, from the steampunk sequel The Clockill and the Thief, to the comic fantasy of the Tarquin the Honest series, to the cosy crime world of The Bookshop Detectives, co-authored with his wife, Louise.
That series has taken on a life of its own. Dead Girl Gone became the number-one bestselling New Zealand fiction title of 2024, and its follow-up, Tea and Cake and Death, took home the Booksellers’ Choice Adult Award in 2025. The trilogy’s finale, Murder and Mojitos, went one better still: it debuted straight in at No. 1 on New Zealand’s bestseller charts in July 2026 and held that top spot for weeks running.
The series has since been optioned for the screen by South Pacific Pictures, proof that Garth and Eloise Sherlock’s story is only just getting started.
Several novels, back-to-back No. 1 releases and several major booksellers’ and writing awards: that’s the kind of ‘what happens after graduation’ story every prospective student wants to see.
Gareth’s advice for other aspiring novelists is as grounded as his own journey: he’s said publishing success comes down to perseverance, craft and luck, and that you only control the first two.
Gareth, you give courage to every writer who has ever stared at a blank page and wondered what if. We couldn’t be more delighted for you.
