Amanda Cropp is a Christchurch freelance journalist and the author of Shaken, Not Stirred: Family survival in a quake zone. She began writing a diary about life post-quake for the Australian Women’s Weekly, and the overwhelmingly positive reader feedback inspired her to turn the diary into a book.
She completed a BA at the University of Canterbury followed by a Diploma in Journalism at Auckland Technical Institute and has worked in journalism ever since.
Between 1980 and 1994 she worked for the Auckland Star, Radio New Zealand, The Dominion Sunday Times and as the news director at Newstalk ZB in Christchurch.
She has also worked in journalism education running training courses for most major New Zealand media organisations.
Amanda began freelancing seriously fourteen years ago and writes for a wide range of national business, lifestyle and current affairs publications. Her specialty areas are food, tourism, education and health issues, but – in her own words – “in reality I can and do write about pretty much anything.”
Her reporting skills have been recognised through numerous awards including a Qantas Journalist of the Year Award and a Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship. She is also the author of a book on investigative reporting in New Zealand.
Amanda Cropp appears in Workshop: Capturing Quake Stories
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