Joan Norlev Taylor stayed at the centre as the recipient of the NZSA/Auckland Museum Research Grant, (awarded in 2017 and taken up in 2018). During her stay Joan read archives in the Auckland Museum library to help her with her new novel, Between the Waters, set in the Wairau Valley in the 1860s.
Joan has previously written a novel set at the time of the establishment of French Akaroa, Napoleon’s Willow (RSVP, 2016). Her first novel, Conversations with Mr. Prain, was published by Melville House, New York, in 2006. She also writes poetry and short stories, especially heritage-themed ghost stories. Otherwise, her books are non-fiction and/or academic (history and archaeology), published under the name of Joan E. Taylor (‘Norlev’ comes from her Danish mother’s side and it signals her creative work), most recently What did Jesus look like? (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2018).