Sue Copsey
Author and Editor
Hello! Welcome to my website.
I’m a professional book editor and author, with more than 20 years’ experience in the UK and NZ publishing industries.
Before you read on, if in fact you’re after my alter ego, Olivia Hayfield (and I wouldn’t blame you if you were - she’s far more glamorous than me) then head over to Oliviahayfield.com. Olivia’s website is much fancier than this one and there’s fun stuff on there too. But if you’re after Sue Copsey the book editor and children’s author, then please, read on!
Editor
I have extensive experience as both an in-house and freelance editor. I trained at Dorling Kindersley in London, and was a project editor then senior editor at DK for four years. After moving to New Zealand, I became a freelance editor specialising in non-fiction titles (adult/children’s), educational material, children’s/YA fiction, and genre fiction. I have edited more than 200 UK, US, and NZ titles.
To find out about my editing services, including my publishing background, client list and portfolio, click here.
Author
My writing career began at London Zoo, where I was a press officer. I also wrote a weekly column for the UK national children’s newspaper The Early Times.
During my time at Dorling Kindersley, I wrote Children Just Like Me, which was an international bestseller and won several major awards.
In New Zealand, my non-fiction title Our Children Aotearoa (Pearson) was published in 2011, followed by my first children’s novel – a spooky adventure called The Ghosts of Young Nick’s Head. The sequel, The Ghosts of Tarawera, received a Storylines Children’s Literature Trust Notable Book Award, and the third in the series, The Ghosts of Moonlight Creek was a finalist in the Sir Julius Vogel awards in the Best Youth Novel category.
In Jan 2020 my first adult novel, Wife After Wife, a modern retelling of the story of King Henry VIII and his six wives, written under my pen name Olivia Hayfield, was published by Little Brown UK, Penguin Random House in the US, and Hachette in Australia and New Zealand. The sequel, Sister to Sister, was published in 2021, and a third historical retelling, Notorious, a whodunnit based on the mystery of the Princes in the Tower, is due out worldwide in 2022.
My adult fiction is written under my pen name Olivia Hayfield. Olivia has her own website (much flasher than this one): www.oliviahayfield.com.
“The lovably eccentric bimbles may remind some of famed fantasy creatures The Moomins … The gentle wit creates an engaging, conservation-themed read.”
– Magpies magazine (Australia)
“A gripping tale … halfway between a spooky ghost story and a classic children’s adventure tale, with a murder mystery twist.”
– Paul Cameron, CEO, Booktrack
“An action-packed adventure with a good dose of spookiness.”
– Zac McCallum, Children and Young Adult Outreach Librarian, Christchurch Libraries
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•Listed in the New Zealand Herald’s ‘Best Books for Christmas 2015’
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•Included in Libraries Aotearoa Hall of Fame for junior fiction
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•Storylines Children’s Literature Trust of New Zealand Notable Book Award, 2016
• Finalist, Sir Julius Vogel Awards (Best Youth Novel category)
“A fabulous spooky adventure tale with its New Zealand setting offering something unique in a genre dominated by non-specific locations …”
– SQ Magazine
