Caroline Heke was born at Paeroa and was educated at many primary schools in New Zealand. She spent the major part of her secondary education at Moorefield Girls’ High School in Sydney, as well as attending Takapuna Grammar in Auckland. At the age of 25, she went to the University of Auckland and four years later attended the Auckland College of Education where she graduated with a Diploma in Teaching in 1991. In 1990 she attended the University of Auckland Summer School of Writing and in 1991 she participated in the University of Auckland Creative Writing course convened by Albert Wendt. Since 1992 Caroline has been teaching part-time; in 1996 she began teaching full-time at Mercury Bay Area School. She has had a couple of exhibitions of her paintings in Whitianga and she is just about to publish a series of cards of her paintings. She is presently coordinating a small collection of story writing by children on the Coromandel called Expresso. She writes poetry, short stories and children’s books. She has published poetry in the Auckland College of Education publication Manuka and has a number of children’s books in process. Caroline and a friend have written a screenplay for a film, a comedy called Joint Ventures.
Biographical sources
- Correspondence and phone conversations with Caroline Heke, 19 Mar. 1993 and 5 Aug. 1998.
Children's literature
- Jack de Pert at the Supermarket. Illus. Trevor Pye. Wellington, N.Z.: Lands End, 1993.
- This story is about a little boy who goes to the supermarket with his dad who has forgotten what was on the shopping list.
Fiction
- "All Things Nice." Not Angels, Not Human. Ed. Tanya Meek. Auckland, N.Z.: AUP, 1992. 60-65.
- A story from a child’s perspective on the double standards of adults and parents.