Lynn Jenner is currently a full time student in the PhD programme at Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters. After a career as a Psychologist, Lynn started writing in 2003 and studied at Whitireia Polytechnic in 2004. Lynn completed an M.A. at Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters in 2008. Her folio Dear Sweet Harry won the Adam Foundation Prize for Creative Writing in that year and was published by Auckland University Press in 2010. Lynn’s poems have appeared in Best New Zealand Poems 2008, 2009 and 2010. Lynn’s poems have also appeared in Turbine, JAAM, Takahe and 4th Floor.

"Hinemoana Baker is a writer, musician and sound enthusiast. She hails from Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Toa, Te Ati Awa and Ngai Tahu on her dad’s side, and England and Bavaria on her mum’s. Her first collection of poetry, 'matuhi | needle' (VUP and Perceval Press 2004), was released in New Zealand and the US. Her second, ‘koiwi koiwi | bone bone' (Victoria University Press), was published in 2010. As well as two albums of original music, Hinemoana has released two CDs of sonic poetry – ‘Gondwanavista’, featuring her own text and field recordings, and ‘I Can See Fiji’ which remixes the poetry of US/Pacific poet Teresia Teaiwa. She was Arts Queensland Poet in Residence in 2009 and writer in residence at the University of Iowa's International Writing Programme in 2010. She lives on the Kapiti Coast."

Bernadette Hall is a widely published, award winning New Zealand writer. She lives in a tiny beach settlement 45 km north of Christchurch. In 1996 she held the Robert Burns fellowship in Dunedin. In 1997she took part in the International Writers Programme in Iowa, USA. Her 6th collection, ‘Settler Dreaming’ was shortlisted for the Tasmania Pacific Poetry Prize in 2003. In 2004 she spent time in Antarctica on an Antarctic Arts Award. The resulting book, ‘The Ponies’ (VUP 2007), was a continuing collaboration with the Dunedin artist, Kathryn Madill. In 2006 she was Writer in Residence at Victoria University, Wellington. She edited Like Love Poems (VUP, 2006), selected and mostly unpublished poems by her friend, the Wanganui painter and poet, Joanna Margaret Paul. In 2007, she spent six months in Co. Cork, Ireland on the Rathcoola Fellowship. Her 9th book, ‘The Lustre Jug’ (VUP), based on this Irish experience, was a runner-up in the NZ Post Book Awards 2010. She is a founding staff member of the Christchurch Writers’ Institute but this year is working as a Teaching Fellow at the International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University, Wellington.

Ian Wedde, New Zealand Poet Laureate 2011-2013.

Ian Wedde lives in Auckland, and teaches in the departments of English and Art History at Auckland University. He has published dozens of works including collections of poetry, novels, art catalogues, and a monograph on the artist Bill Culbert. He has worked as a critic for the London Magazine and the Evening Post, and as the head of art and humanities at Te Papa.

Alongside the work he publishes on this site, he is preparing a new collection of poems, The Lifeguard, and planning a book of selected pieces.

Paul was for many years one of New Zealand's most well known and respected commentators on the topics of information access and technological change in New Zealand. His work demonstrated an in-depth knowledge of the Internet and of the broader issues in a social, economic, political and technological context. Sadly Paul died in 2010 and he is greatly missed. Paul was one of the inspirations for getting the Mix and Mash competition off the ground. We're sad that he didn't get to see the competition in action but we are delighted to honour him by including his beautifully written first post from his People Points blog.