Rutendo Shadaya, a 17-year-old author and advocate for young writers in New Zealand, has been named to TIME’s 2025 Girls of the Year list.
TIME’s 2025 Girls of the Year list celebrates teens making an extraordinary impact across the globe.
Shadaya first began her writing journey at age nine, when she crafted Rachel and the Enchanted Forest as a birthday gift for her best friend. That debut novel has since grown into a three-part fantasy series known as The Enchanted Gang.
“Writing is an excellent way of expressing yourself,” Shadaya has shared, underscoring her mission to inspire other young writers, particularly girls, to see themselves reflected in stories and pursue their dreams.
Her path wasn’t without challenges. Early in her journey, a publisher dismissed her manuscript, citing her young age.
“I felt like that was a bit of a form of ageism, I guess? But then, realistically, what publishing agency would publish a nine-year-old?” she recalled.
Undeterred, Shadaya’s family chose to self-publish, giving her books a platform and encouraging her to share her voice with the world.
Now a teen advocate, Shadaya speaks at conferences and in youth forums across New Zealand, encouraging others to write despite limited resources. She also hopes to bring more of her Zimbabwean heritage into her stories, addressing the lack of Black representation she noticed in the books she read as a child.
“I didn’t have many books that I read that were, like, predominantly Black,” she explained. “I mostly started reading those books when I started hitting my tween and teenage years. And I wish I had that as it could have helped me formulate my writing a bit more in my early stages.”
Shadaya’s recognition by TIME is both a personal milestone and a broader message.
As she put it: “It is a message to young girls everywhere that their dreams can be achieved.”
