"Hi Amelia,
Sorry I didn't see your thread until just today. I don't know of such a list, but the place I would start is the NZ Book Council. http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/ they have loads of resources on the most well known and popular authors and poets there. Many have links through to their websites. Another place I would go is the Booksellers NZ site http://www.booksellers.co.nz/ there you will find details of awards and plenty of other resources. The link on that page to the Children's book awards will give you loads of resources associated with popular children's authors. Another thing you could do is check out the SLANZA website www.slanza.org.nz and also if you have a look on TKI (Ministry of Education website) http://www.tki.org.nz/Communities you will find a heap of different information about various online and local groups all related to teaching at every level from primary to secondary.
Hope that helps. I am also tempted to tell you some favourite authors to try - so I will. Janet Frame, Lloyd Jones, Patricia Grace, Witi Ihimaera, Brian Faulkner (junior secondary), Fleur Beale, Glen Colqhoun (poetry), Apirana Taylor (poetry) there are a mountain more but that will get you going.
Cheers Bridget"