Children Mackenna and Brianna Role Author | Years active 1989–present Name Tania Roxborogh | |
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Full Name Tania Kelly Roxborogh Spouse(s) Phillip Roxborogh (1989-present) Books Space Gum: A Novel, Third Degree Profiles | ||
Tania Kelly Roxborogh (born 1 September 1965) is a New Zealand author who currently lives in Dunedin. She is the author of over 25 books, including Third Degree, Twenty Minute Shakespeare, and Fat Like Me and The Banquo's Son Trilogy. She also teaches English at a Dunedin high school.
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Early life
Tania Roxborogh was born in Christchurch. When Tania was 3, her alcoholic father left home and she moved to Te Puke with her mother. In 1972, at the age of 7, her mother met another man, who had 4 sons and a housekeeper who also had 4 children. They all moved in together and moved around Northland for the next few years. They finally settled in Titoki, west of Whangarei where Tania and her siblings attended Mangakahia Area School. However, in 1977, the family once again moved. By 1980, Tania had lived in 12 different houses and gone to 7 different schools.
Moving around made Tania's childhood unsettled and unhappy, so during her 5th form year in 1981, she travelled down to North Canterbury to live with her father. Unfortunately, this still did not work out and Tania did not want to go back to her mother, so she contacted Social Welfare who arranged for her to stay in Hawarden in a foster family. In 1985, Tania began studying at Massey University in Palmerston North. Three years later, she went to Auckland Teacher's College and the following year began teaching English.
Marriage and children
In December 1989, Tania married Phillip Roxborogh. Her daughter Mackenna was born three years later in 1992 and Brianna, four years after that, in 1996.
Other
Content and style of writing
Roxborogh's earlier works contain much biographical material. Many of the situations her characters find themselves dealing with are sourced from specific events in her own life. For example, the car accident Jeremy suffered in Runaway is exactly what she experienced. In Third Degree, a story about a 19-year-old university student Ruth, memories of a 10-year-old self are lifted straight from the memories of the time Roxborogh ran into her stepfather who was carrying a pot of boiling hot water. She was scalded very badly and suffered third degree burns. During her time in hospital she was not just scarred physically but was also subjected to a medical experiment.
Roxborogh's parenting books (No, it's Not Okay and Kids Behaving Bravely) reflect her observations and research associated with teaching adolescents. These two she co-authored with guidance counseller Kim Stephenson.
Philosophical and/or political views
Tania Roxborogh is a devout Christian and currently attends Leith Valley Presbyterian Church. Her brother-in-law John Roxborogh is a theologian.
Tania's motto for life is best said in Langston Hughes's poem 'Dreams': "Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly..."