Alexa Johnston

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.

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, 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 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).

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 first book in her cookery series, Ladies, a Plate, won the Lifestyle & Contemporary Culture Award at the 2009 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. and Nielsen Award for Best Book for Ladies, A Plate at the 2009 PANZ Book Design Awards.