Yvonne du Fresne

Yvonne Donna du Fresne (30September 1929 – 13March 2011) was a New Zealand writer of Danish descent.

She was born in Tākaka and grew up in a Danish-French Huguenot settlement in the Manawatū District on the North Island. She trained as a teacher in Christchurch and taught in primary school. Du Fresne was first published in the 1950s. In 1980, she published a collection of short stories Farvel and other stories which received the PEN best first book award.

She wrote three radio plays: The Spring, The Ship and A Little Talk About Our Winter District, which were performed on New Zealand's National Radio. In 1999, du Fresne was writer in residence at Aarhus University in Denmark.

She died in Wellington at the age of 81.

Selected works
Du Fresne wrote:
 * The Book of Ester, novel (1982), runner up for the New Zealand Book Awards
 * The Growing of Astrid Westergaard, short stories (1985), runner up for the New Zealand Book Awards
 * Frederique, novel (1987)
 * The Bear from the North, stories (1989)
 * Motherland, novel (1996)
 * The Morning Talk, Short story