Alexa Johnston is an author, art curator, and historian from New Zealand.

Background

Johnston attended Northcote College. She studied Art History at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

Career

Johnston worked for nineteen years as a curator at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Following the 2002 exhibition, 'Sir Edmund Hillary: Everest and Beyond', which she curated for

Auckland Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Auckla ...

, Johnston published her first book, ''Sir Edmund Hillary: An Extraordinary Life.'' The book was translated into German by Ursula Pesch and Hans Freundl. Johnston collaborated with David Larsen to write ''Reaching the Summit'', biography of

Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reache ...

for young adults. Johnston has published a number of books celebrating New Zealand's culinary history including ''Ladies, a Plate (''2008), ''A Second Helping ''(2009), ''What's For Pudding? ''(2011), and ''Ladies, a Plate: Jams and Preserves'' (2016). In 2016, Johnston edited and revised the ''

Edmonds Cookery Book The ''Edmonds Cookery Book'' is a recipe book focusing on traditional New Zealand cuisine. It was first published as ''The Sure to Rise Cookery Book'' in 1908 as a marketing tool by baking powder manufacturer Thomas Edmonds (today part of Goodm ...

'' for its 69th De Luxe edition.

Awards

''Sir Edmund Hillary: An Extraordinary Life'' received the non-fiction honour award in the 2008

New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are a series of literary awards presented annually to recognise excellence in children and young adult's literature in New Zealand. The awards began in 1982 as the New Zealand Governm ...

. The first book in her cookery series, ''Ladies, a Plate'', won the Lifestyle & Contemporary Culture Award at the 2009

Montana New Zealand Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder W ...

. It also won the Publishers' Association of New Zealand Award for Best Illustrated Book and was Recipe Book of the Year in the New Zealand Guild of Food Writers Culinary Quill Awards. Johnston's books have also won design awards, including Best Cover in the 2006 Spectrum Book Design Awards for ''Sir Edmund Hillary: An Extraordinary Life'' and Nielsen Award for Best Book for ''Ladies, A Plat''e at the 2009 PANZ Book Design Awards.

References

External links

Ladies, a plate
- personal website {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Alexa Living people University of Auckland alumni 21st-century New Zealand women writers New Zealand art historians Women art historians New Zealand cookbook writers New Zealand women food writers New Zealand biographers Year of birth missing (living people) New Zealand women biographers People educated at Northcote College New Zealand art curators New Zealand women curators 21st-century New Zealand historians 21st-century New Zealand non-fiction writers