Editor
I work alongside you to make your writing project the best it can be. I strive to enhance your voice as the author, not to replace it with my own.
For more than ten years I’ve worked with a diverse range of authors and publishers, from Parliament’s Hansard to leading publishers and authors from a diverse range of backgrounds.
I’m an IPED Accredited Editor and a member of the NZ Society of Manuscript Assessors. This means you can trust my advice, knowing that I meet high industry standards and update my skills regularly. Recent IPED courses I’ve taken include: ‘Editing with the Neurodivergent Writer’ and ‘Editing Māori Language Text in English-Language Publications’.
Please get in touch to see how I can help you.
Editing Projects
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Recent projects include literary titles Party Boys (Te Herenga Waka University Press (THWUP), 2026), Star Gazers (THWUP, 2025), kitten, (THWUP, 2024), Dream Girl (THWUP, 2023), Tauhou (THWUP, 2022) and The Ani Waaka Room (Te Tākupu, 2022), plus multiple proofreading contracts.
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Recent titles include Tākiri mai te ata: Understanding whāngai and adoption (Te Tākupu, 2026), Outcast: The Extraordinary Life and Death of Jean Etienne Brocher (Quentin Wilson Publishing, 2026), The Covid Response (Bridget Williams Books, 2025), Rugby League in New Zealand: A People’s History (Bridget Williams Books, 2023),Towards a Grammar of Race (Bridget Williams Books, 2022) and The Mermaid Boy (Hue & Cry Press, 2015), and proofreading of multiple titles on health, science, and Aotearoa NZ history.
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Hue & Cry Journal. I worked on this art and literary journal as literary co-editor.
o Issue 3: Good Times, Bad Times
o Issue 4: Champion This!
o Issue 5: With a Bullet
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Trees: We Love Them All. A collection of writing, photos, and artwork by 26 contributors. Designer: Go Ahead Graphics. Cover image: Mike Glover.
“Lawrence is an amazing editor. He's highly skilled, he listens, he's an excellent communicator.
He also has the significant advantage of being a very fine writer. So he understands the importance of voice.
He's fast becoming one of the best and most sought-after editors in the country. I would strongly recommend him.”
— Breton Dukes, author of Party Boy and What Sort of Man. Image: Hue & Cry Press
“Editor Lawrence Patchett is outstanding – wonderfully learned, a writer himself, exacting but at the same time adapting to another style.
The Extraordinary Life of Etienne Jean Brocher is all the better for his great work.
”
— Brian Stoddart, author of fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays. Image: Unity Books
Dr LAWRENCE PATCHETT AE
QUALIFICATIONS
IPED Accredited Editor 2024 - Institute of Professional Editors
PhD Creative Writing 2012 - Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington
Masters Creative Writing 2007 - Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington
BA (Hons) English Literature 1998 - University of Canterbury
Te Aupikitanga ki te Reo Kairangi 2019 – Te Wānanga o Aotearoa
BACKGROUND
I’m a Pākehā person with ancestors from Shetland, Ireland, and the UK.
My interests include sport (especially cricket and rugby league), and I work part-time in the restoration of native forests and wetlands.
MEMBERSHIPS
Institute of Professional Editors (IPED)
New Zealand Association of Manuscript Assessors (NZAMA)
New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA)
Photo: Janneth Gil.