About the author
Stories have always been home
Robyn Prokop is a New Zealand author of fantasy, young adult fiction and children’s picture books. She lives on a rural property in Nelson, where writing is regularly interrupted by animals, gardens and the practical demands of country life.
Explore Robyn’s books
A life shaped by stories
“Once upon a time” were the most magical words
As a child, Robyn read wherever she could: in trees, on the way home from school, in secret hiding places and under the blankets by torchlight. Books were places to escape into, but they also planted an ambition. One day, she wanted to build imagined worlds of her own.
Her love of words led to university study in English literature, postgraduate work and a career in education. As an English teacher, she spent years helping other people find their voices and shape their stories. Her own writing dream remained in the background, waiting.
The promise that started the series
A fantasy trilogy, requested by three daughters
Robyn’s first eager audience was her three daughters. Their bedtime demands taught her the importance of memorable characters, consistent details and a story strong enough to survive close questioning the following night.
As the girls grew, their shared stories grew with them. Eventually, after the final page of The Lord of the Rings, they faced a serious family problem: there was no more story left to read.
Robyn agreed to write them a fantasy trilogy. It took longer than the following week, which may have been their original expectation, but that promise became the beginning of the Stones of the Azuri.
Experience behind the writing
Many lives before publishing
Before becoming a full-time writer, Robyn worked in insurance and merchant banking, ran a contract cleaning company, managed bars and restaurants, renovated old houses, taught English, Classics, Media and History, and worked as a school principal.
She has lived and worked in Sydney, the United Kingdom, Brisbane, Singapore and Melbourne, returning to New Zealand with her family in 2005.
Her fiction is informed by her experience teaching adolescents, her academic background and her longstanding interests in literature, history and music.
Life in Nelson
When Robyn is not writing, she is likely to be chasing an escapee animal, digging in the vegetable garden, planting flowers for bees or cooking food to share with family, friends and neighbours.
The landscapes and rhythms of New Zealand are part of the life surrounding the books, even when the stories themselves lead somewhere entirely imagined.
Begin with Taelstone
Meet Ash and Kep at the start of their journey in the first Stones of the Azuri novel.