The Incredible Insects of Aotearoa
A fun, fascinating and revealing book about the strange and wonderful critters of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Simon Pollard
Dr Simon Pollard is a spider biologist and award-winning natural history writer and photographer.
He has written and provided photographs for a number of children’s books in New Zealand and the United States and has twice won the LIANZA Elsie Locke non-fiction book of the year.
His last four books in New Zealand have been published by Te Papa Press with the latest being The Incredible Insects of Aotearoa (2025). The Genius of Bugs (2016) and Why is that Spider Dancing? The Amazing Arachnids of Aotearoa (2021) were both shortlisted for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Why is that Lake so Blue? (2018) won a Storylines notable book award. His latest book outside New Zealand was The Little Book of Spiders (2024) published by Princeton University Press (US) and UniPress Books Limited (UK). Since 2009, Simon has been Adjunct Professor of Science Communication at the University of Canterbury.
Simon Pollard. Photo by Cynthia Pollard
Books
Why is That Spider Dancing? The Amazing Arachnids of Aotearoa
A fun, fascinating and revealing book about Aotearoa’s amazing eight-legged marvels
Why is That Lake So Blue?
A fascinating, fun and engaging book on New Zealand’s amazing natural world
The Genius of Bugs
They may be small, they may be creepy, but bugs have super-sized powers!
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The Ten-Question Q&A with the authors of The Incredible Insects of Aotearoa
Simon Pollard and Phil Sirvid discuss The Incredible Insects of Aotearoa with Te Papa Press.
Why is That Spider Dancing?: author biographies and interview
Simon Pollard and Phil Sirvid, the authors of Why is That Spider Dancing?, discuss their work with Te Papa Press
Simon Pollard: biography and 10 questions about Why is That Lake So Blue?
Simon Pollard, author of Why is That Lake So Blue?, discusses his work with Te Papa Press