Ruth Paul

Ruth has written and illustrated over 24 published picture books and illustrated many more. She received the New Zealand Arts Foundation Mallinson-Rendel Laureate Award for Illustration in 2019 and the University of Otago College of Education Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence Fellowship in 2023. 

Ruth’s latest book You Can’t Pat a Fish is shortlisted in two categories in the 2025 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Her books Lions Guards the Cake (2022) and I Am Jellyfish (2018) have both won Best Picture Book at the same awards. Her 2020 book Cookie Boo, published by Harper Collins US, received a Kirkus starred review. 

Ruth’s books have been published in New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, the UK, China and Korea, with translations in five languages. Her first non-fiction picture book Anahera is published with Penguin Random House NZ in May 2025, and her first mid-grade fiction Ghost Kiwi with Scholastic NZ in July 2025. 

Ruth Paul