Janet Christine Hunt (born 3 September 1951) is a New Zealand writer of non-fiction works for children and adults. She writes primarily about wildlife. Her 2007 book Wetlands of New Zealand received the top prize for non-fiction at the 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.
Hunt was born in Stratford, Taranaki, New Zealand, on 3 September 1951. She grew up in Inglewood on her parents' dairy farm and attended Inglewood High School.
Hunt holds a Bachelor of Arts with honours from Massey University, a teaching diploma from Palmerston North Teachers' College and a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Auckland. Her thesis was about the poetry of Hone Tuwhare. She has worked as a teacher at primary and secondary schools, a production editor, and as a graphic design lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology and the University of Auckland.
Hunt has also worked in publishing as a production editor. In 2014 she became the chairwoman of North Taranaki Forest & Bird.
In 2003, she published a children's non-fiction book, A Bird in the Hand: Keeping New Zealand Wildlife Safe. It won Book of the Year and Best in Non-Fiction at the 2004 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, won the 2004 Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction, and was listed as a 2004 Storylines Notable Non-Fiction Book.
It was followed by From Weta to Kauri: A Guide to the New Zealand Forest (2004), which was a finalist in the non-fiction category at the 2005 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and listed as a 2005 Storylines Notable Non-Fiction Book.
Wetlands of New Zealand: A Bitter-sweet Story (2007) won the Environment award and the top prize for non-fiction at the 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. Hunt has described it as the "absolute peak of [her] career".
Hunt published children's book E3 Call Home in 2009. It was listed as a 2010 Storylines Notable Non-Fiction Book, and was a finalist in the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
In 2017 and 2019 Hunt published two children's books of stories about Wildbase Hospital, a wildlife rehabilitation hospital which is part of Massey University. The 2009 book, Three Kiwi Tales, was shortlisted in the non-fiction category of the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.