Tessa Duder
Duder in 2015 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth name | Tessa Staveley | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 13 November 1940 Auckland, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||
| Education | Diocesan School for Girls | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Writer | ||||||||||||||
| Years active | 1979–present | ||||||||||||||
| Spouses | John Nelson Duder
(m. 1964–1994)Barry Thompson (m. 2001–2012) | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Country | New Zealand | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
| National finals | 110 yd butterfly champion (1958, 1959) Individual medley champion (1957, 1958, 1959) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Tessa Duder CNZM OBE (née Staveley, born 13 November 1940) is a New Zealand author of novels for young people, short stories, plays and non-fiction, and a former swimmer who won a silver medal for her country at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. As a writer, she is primarily known for her Alex quartet and long-term advocacy for New Zealand children's literature. As an editor, she has also published a number of anthologies. In 2020 she received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in acknowledgement of her significant contributions to New Zealand fiction.