Saradha Koirala grew up in Nelson, New Zealand, and is of Nepali/Pakeha descent. She writes reviews, young adult fiction and is the author of four poetry collections: Wit of the Staircase (Steele Roberts, 2009), Tear Water Tea (Steele Roberts, 2013), Photos of the Sky (The Cuba Press, 2018) and The Good Days (Both Sides Books, 2025). Her poetry has been published in NZ Listener, Sport, Turbine, Hue & Cry, Cordite Poetry Review, Broadsheet and New Zealand Poetry Society Anthologies. Paula Green (NZ Poetry Shelf) described Saradha’s poems as ‘economical, graceful’ and ‘mysterious’. Hamesh Wyatt (Otago Daily Times) wrote: ‘This young woman will be going places in our literary scene’.

After she graduated with a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University (2007), Saradha taught English and creative writing at secondary schools from 2006-2015. In 2012, she received funding from Creative New Zealand to complete her second collection of poetry. She has participated in the Nelson Arts Festival (2014) and Greytown Arts Festival (2012), read at the New Zealand Poetry Society Conference at the National Library of New Zealand (2015), been guest at various poetry evenings and events, and was part of the final panel discussion at the Truth or Beauty: Poetry and Biography Conference at Victoria University (2014). In 2017 Saradha performed poetry at Melbourne University during the Cultural Diversity Week program and was also part of the Cementa 17 Arts Festival in Kandos NSW, reading poetry with Derek Motion and Tanya Thaweeskulchai. She was the convening judge for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry in the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Saradha’s young adult novel Lonesome When You Go (Makaro Press) was named a Storylines Notable Book 2017 followed by an award ceremony in Auckland. Her sequel book Learning to Love Blue (Record Press, 2021) won the Young Adult Fiction Award in the 2022 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

Saradha’s most recent poetry collection, The Good Days (Both Sides Books, 2025), is set before, during and after a global pandemic – a time that coincided with becoming a parent. This collection chronicles a journey of creating a home and family and explores the loss and reclamation of identity that occurs as worlds expand, shrink and expand again. The scent of good days and tricky days ahead.

Saradha currently lives in Melbourne.

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Links

Saradha Koirala’s website

Twitter:@Saradha_K

Steele Roberts author page

New Zealand Society of Authors writer page

Wikipedia

NZ Book Awards 2022 awards winners (May, 2022)

Photos of the Sky review by Sarah Lin Wilson at The Reader (Nov 2018)

Article in Nelson Mail (April 2014)

Landfall review of Tear Water Tea (May 2014)

takahē review of Tear Water Tea (2014)

Siobhan Harvey’s review of Tear Water Tea (Aug 2013)

NZ Poetry Shelf review of Tear Water Tea (Aug 2013)

Interview with Tim Jones (Aug 2013)