About
Sacha Cotter is a children's writer based in Wellington, New Zealand. Together with her partner in both books & life, illustrator Josh Morgan (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Rongowhakaata), they form the creative team Cotter & Morgan.
Sacha and Josh have worked with HUIA, an independent Māori publisher, since 2013. Together with the HUIA team, they have created award-winning picture books in both English & Māori including Keys / Ngā Kī, The Marble Maker / Te Kaihanga Māpere, Te Pohū and the 2019 Margaret Mahy Book of the Year, The Bomb.
The Bomb was published in the United States in 2020 by Sourcebooks as Cannonball and Keys will be released in 2023 under the new title When Daddy Tucks Me In.
Sacha & Josh are currently working on two new picture books for HUIA publishers. They are due for release in 2023.
Sacha also writes for children’s television. She has written for both The Kiddets and The Book Hungry Bears, two animated shows produced by Pukeko Pictures. In 2019 Sacha & Josh created a ‘made-for-television’ picture book for The Book Hungry Bears show, called One Bird Band. It has recently been published and is available widely.
Sacha & Josh formed part of the creative team responsible for developing Extreme Cake Sports, a lighthearted children’s television show made for TVNZ’s HeiHei channel.
Sacha holds an arts degree from Massey University with a major in social anthropology. She has a graduate diploma in teaching and learning from Canterbury University and has taught in both New Zealand and Spain.
Whilst living in Valencia, Sacha completed short film courses during her summer holidays. This experience helped not only to improve her Spanish, but also gave her time to reconnect with her creative side and explore her love of writing.
Sacha has completed the Writing for Children Workshop and the Master Class in Television Script Writing with the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University, Wellington.
Sacha loves lots of things including stop motion animation, daydreaming, biscuits, books, chatting, dancing, curly dogs, space noodles and woolly mammoths named Stanley.
Selected Awards:
-The United States Board on Books for Young People (USSBY) Outstanding International Books List (OIB) 2021 - Cannonball
-NZ Book Awards for Children & Young Adults 2019 - The Bomb - Margaret Mahy Book of the Year - Supreme Winner
-NZ Book Awards for Children & Young Adults 2019 - The Bomb - Winner Picture Book Award
-NZ Book Awards for Children & Young Adults - The Bomb - Finalist Russell Clark Award for Illustration
-PANZ Book Design Awards 2019 - The Bomb - Winner Scholastic NZ Award for Best Picture Book
-PANZ Book Design Awards 2019 - The Bomb - Finalist HarperCollins Award for Best Cover
-Storylines Notable Book Award 2019 - The Bomb - Picture Book Category