Naomi Arnold is an award-winning journalist and natural history writer. She contributes to most national publications including RNZ, North & South, Wilderness, and New Zealand Geographic, as well as international outlets including The Washington Post and The Guardian. She started her writing career at the Nelson Mail in 2009 and was a feature writer there for five years before becoming a freelance writer and author. As well as Northbound, she wrote Southern Nights, an acclaimed story of New Zealand astronomy (HarperCollins, 2019), and co-authored the Ockham-longlisted book Force of Nature, a history of Forest & Bird, with renowned conservation writer David Young (Potton & Burton, 2024). She lives in Nelson.