Sarah Ell was born and raised on Auckland’s North Shore. She trained as a newspaper journalist before working in magazine and book publishing, and has a Bachelor of Arts in New Zealand history from Massey University and a Master of Creative Writing from the University of Auckland. She is the author of 11 books for adults and young people, including Sirocco, the Rock Star Kakapo (2012) and the historical survey Ocean (2018). She still lives on the North Shore, with her husband, yacht designer Rob Shaw, and their two children.
Sarah was awarded the 2018 NZSA/Auckland Museum fellowship, (taken up in 2019) and held a four week residency at MKWC as part of this. During her time Sarah completed her latest book Lost Wonders, to be launch in March 2020.