The irony is not lost on prolific Tauranga author Lee Murray as she casts about for words to describe how she feels about being named in the 2025 New Year Honours.

“To receive this honour, I’m just so proud. I can’t find the words. I’m supposed to be a wordsmith and just can’t get the words out.”

Murray has been made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to literature.

The independent writer, who has produced works with a New Zealand focus, has been recognised for her work in science fiction, fantasy and horror – genres collectively known as speculative fiction.

She has written and curated nearly 40 titles since 2007, earned over 25 national and international awards, and received five international Bram Stoker Awards.

She is the only Kiwi to have won the Shirley Jackson Award for psychological horror, and has been honoured by the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Society and NZ Society of Authors. Last year she received a Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction.

Murray said she felt “so grateful” and hopes her latest honour brings recognition to the NZ speculative writing community.

“It’s hugely humbling, because why me? I hope it shines a light on the creative community, particularly the speculative community that doesn’t get a lot of attention.”

Murray is an independent writer of science fiction, fantasy and horror, known as speculative fiction collectively, and has produced works with a New Zealand focus. Photo / George Novak

Murray described speculative fiction as a new and visionary way of thinking.

“We’ve got lots of thought leaders in New Zealand and speculative is the new black – it’s all the things we’re frightened about, all the things we’re concerned about, and where the world is going.

“So much of how we learn, how we see the world, and how we approach the future is told through speculative fiction.

“If this honour can shine a little light on those thought leaders and the work they’re doing, then I think that’s a brilliant thing.”

Murray was a scientist by profession but said she had “always been a scribbler”.

“My dad was a big storyteller so I have always been interested in stories and am a huge reader. I did keep journals and little riffs of stories that I’d been writing kind of all my life.”

She said her husband pushed her to pursue the “writing gig” and she started fulltime writing in her 40s.

“I never looked back since then and I’ve been pretty much fulltime writing since I think 2006 or 2007, a while now.”

Lee Murray's most recent work is inspired by her Asian heritage. Photo / Kaitlyn Morrell

As a Chinese New Zealander, Murray had never seen writing that reflected her personal experiences. Her most recent work Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud was inspired by Asian heritage.

“A lot of my work revolves around Asian storytelling, Asian Aotearoa stories, and about how it is to come and be part of a Western culture when you’ve got an Asian heritage.”

Murray is a life member of Speculative Fiction Writers of New Zealand, and also works with Tauranga Writers, Young New Zealand Writers and the International Horror Writers Association. She had supported more than 100 writers through her work.

“I think part of my branding is community, mentorship and kindness and I’m like a rising tide that lifts all boats. I know that’s a cliché but I do my best to help other writers.

“I have a lot of mentees who are fabulous and doing really exciting things. It makes me so proud to have played a small part in shaping their careers and their futures.

“It can only help me if other people around me are also doing well.”

Murray is working on a novel, which she said had been “a long time coming” and believed there were still many more stories to tell.

“I’m just so grateful to the people that nominated my work and that they thought I was worthy of something like this.”

Kaitlyn Morrell is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.