Kirsten McKenzie fought international crime for fourteen years as a Customs Officer in both England and New Zealand, before leaving to work in the family antique store. Now a full time author, she lives in New Zealand with her family and alternates between writing time travel trilogies and polishing her next thriller. Her spare time is spent organising author events and appearing on literary panels at festivals around the world.
Her work has appeared in anthologies in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, including the NHS fundraiser - Noir From The Bar. She has had non-fiction pieces appear in The Spinoff, and in other local publications.
In 2024, her short story The Watchman, part of the anthology Remains To Be Told: Dark Tales From Aotearoa, was shortlisted for the 2024 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Short Story. Remains To Be Told: Dark Tales From Aotearoa has also been shortlisted for the 2024 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Collected Work. Her time travel novel, Ithaca Bound, was shortlisted for the 2023 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel.
Kirsten is represented by Nadine Rubin Nathan at Highspot Literary.