Alexa Johnston is a freelance writer and art curator. Her first book, a definitive biography of the iconic New Zealand mountaineer, Sir Edmund Hillary: An Extraordinary Life, was a finalist in the Montana Book Awards. An enthusiastic and accomplished baker from a young age, Alexa has published three cookbooks celebrating New Zealand's culinary history: Ladies, a Plate (2008), A Second Helping (2009) and What's For Pudding? (2011); as well as a beautiful hardback collectors' edition of her baking recipes, Ladies, a Plate: The Collection (2012). For her latest book, Ladies, a Plate: Jams and Preserves, Alexa turns her attention to a once-essential branch of domestic cookery and makes a convincing case for bringing it back to the centre of our kitchen activities.