Paula Boock (born 1964) is a New Zealand writer and editor.
Born inDunedin, Boock is a member of a sporting family. She is the sister of four brothers,[1] among them former New Zealand cricket representativeStephen Boock and sports journalistRichard Boock, and has herself represented her province of Otago at cricket. She studied at theUniversity of Otago, after which she began working as an editor and publisher, co-foundingLongacre Press in the city in 1994.[2]
Boock's early writing consisted of plays and short stories, but she turned to novel-writing shortly after leaving university.[1] Many of Boock's novels and television scripts are aimed primarily at the young adult market, and have been since her earliest writing. Her first novel,Out Walked Mel was published in 1991 and won theAIM Best First Book Award. Other awards followed for later books includingSasscat to Win (1993),Home Run (1996) andDare, Truth, or Promise, the latter of which won the 1998New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards,[2] and was shortlisted in the United States for a2000 Lambda Literary Award forLGBT-themed fiction.[1]
Boock began writing for the screen in 1995 with an episode of drama seriesCover Story. She began scriptwriting more in earnest in 2000, becoming one of four writers working onGibson Group seriesThe Strip. An episode of this series co-written by Boock and Kathryn Burnett won her a Best Drama Script Award at the2003 New Zealand Television Awards. Bocck's later television work includes scripts forThe Insiders Guide to Happiness and its prequel,The Insider's Guide To Love, and editing and script consultancy work on bothBro'Town andBurying Brian.[2]
In 2007, Boock andDonna Malane inaugurated Lippy Pictures, a production company which was responsible for the children's time-travel dramaTime Trackers and tele-movieUntil Proven Innocent.Time Trackers was nominated for best children's drama at the2009 Australian Film Institute Awards, andUntil Proven Innocent was a multiple award winner at New Zealand's2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards. Later scripts co-authored by Boock for Lippy have includedBloodlines, another award-winning series, andTangiwai - A Love Story, a dramatization of the 1953Tangiwai train disaster.[2]
Boock was the 1994 Writer in Residence at theDunedin College of Education and in 1999, was named as theUniversity of Otago'sBurns Fellow. She was also named as 2009 Writer in Residence atVictoria University.[3]
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