Tania Roxborogh

Tania Kelly Roxborogh (born 1 September 1965) is a New Zealand author who currently lives in Lincoln, Canterbury. She is the author of over 25 books, including Third Degree, Twenty Minute Shakespeare, and Fat Like Me and The Banquo's Son Trilogy. She also teaches English at the local high school.

Early life

Tania Roxborogh was born in Christchurch. When Tania was 3, her alcoholic father left home and she moved to Te Puke with her mother. In 1972, at the age of 7, her mother met another man, who had 4 sons and a housekeeper who also had 4 children. They all moved in together and moved around Northland for the next few years. They finally settled in Titoki, west of Whangarei where Tania and her siblings attended Mangakahia Area School. However, in 1977, the family once again moved. By 1980, Tania had lived in 12 different houses and gone to 7 different schools.

Moving around made Tania's childhood unsettled and unhappy, so during her 5th form year in 1981, she travelled down to North Canterbury to live with her father. Unfortunately, this still did not work out and Tania did not want to go back to her mother, so she contacted Social Welfare who arranged for her to stay in Hawarden in a foster family.

Education Tania attended Whangarei Girls High School from 1979-1981 and Hawarden Area School (now Huranui College) from 1981-1982. In 1985, Tania began studying at Massey University in Palmerston North. Three years later, she went to Auckland Teacher's College and the following year began teaching English. In 2015, she graduated from the University of Otago with a second B.A. This time in Māori Studies.

Marriage and children

In December 1989, Tania married Phillip Roxborogh. Her daughter Mackenna was born three years later in 1992 and Brianna, four years after that, in 1996.

Other

• In 2002, Tania Roxborogh sat the Bursary English exam after a challenge from her Year 13 class as she hadn't taken it herselfbefore and was taking her students through it.
• In 2003, she underwent a gastric bypass operation after struggling with a serious weight problem as a result of her pregnancies and has been a vocal advocate for the positive results of the procedure.
• In 2006, she was awarded the Dunedin College of Education's Children's Writer in Residence which led to the family relocating from Auckland to Dunedin.
• In 2010, her novel, Banquo's Son was shortlisted for the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards, awarded a notable book from Storylines: the Children's Literature Foundation of New Zealand as well as winning the YA section of the 2010 LIANZA awards.
• Roxborogh's novel, Bastion Point, won the junior fiction category in the 2017 Book Awards for Children and Young Adults

Roxborogh's earlier works contain much biographical material. Many of the situations her characters find themselves dealing with are sourced from specific events in her own life. For example, the car accident Jeremy suffered in Runaway is exactly what she experienced. In Third Degree, a story about a 19-year-old university student Ruth, memories of a 10-year-old self are lifted straight from the memories of the time Roxborogh ran into her stepfather who was carrying a pot of boiling hot water. She was scalded very badly and suffered third degree burns. During her time in hospital she was not just scarred physically but was also subjected to a medical experiment.

Roxborogh's parenting books (No, it's Not Okay and Kids Behaving Bravely) reflect her observations and research associated with teaching adolescents. These two she co-authored with guidance counseller Kim Stephenson.

Tania Roxborogh is a non-denominational Christian.Her brother-in-law John Roxborogh is a theologian.

Tania's motto for life is best said in Langston Hughes's poem 'Dreams': "Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly..."