I’m overwhelmed, thrilled, delighted that Wonderland is one of ten books longlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction in the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Find the full longlist on the Book Awards website. Thanks to everyone involved in getting this book out in the world, especially The Cuba Press crew Mary … Read more…
award
Wonderland wins NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize
I am over the moon – and a little overwhelmed, though in the best of ways – that the manuscript for my novel Wonderland has been awarded the 2024 NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize. The judges have said some very beautiful things about the manuscript – you can read more in the announcement here. … Read more…
Wonderland shortlisted for NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize
I’m truly thrilled that my unpublished novel, Wonderland, has been shortlisted for the NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize 2024, a prize that celebrates writing with a ‘unique and original vision’. The shortlist of four writers – Abigail von Ahsen, Jade Hallamore, Jacqueline Owens and me – was judged by Cassie Hart and Anne Kennedy, … Read more…
Mildura Writers Festival and Residency
Next month’s going to be all about Mildura, so I’m going to keep this post short and sweet, as a taste of what’s to come. I’ve been lucky enough to be awarded the inaugural Mildura Writers Festival Residency. The residency is an initiative of Arts Mildura and the Mildura Writers Festival. During the month (July 2015) … Read more…
Greenwich, meantime
I started off on the path, but the cold soon got to me, and when I hit an open patch and felt the sun pull on my arms like some strange gravity I veered off to the left and onto the grass. There were Canadian boys with a hackysack – there are always Canadian boys … Read more…
Purple suit, junkie lover
Her plan took her back to his shop one afternoon – for the bookstore, she knew, was a time-honoured place for the acting out of romantic fancies – at a time when she knew he was most likely to be in attendance himself, reading at the counter, or perhaps arranging and rearranging the Bukowskis in … Read more…
The Blind Astronomer
It was Aunt who taught me not just to look, but to really see. She taught me to look with an artist’s eye, and that’s what I’ve done in my work. I’ve seen the planets with an artist’s eye, charted their courses with a sense of the beauty their paths carve through space. Connecting memory, … Read more…
Short story: Once Had Me
The car winds between steep fields that sweep down, green, to meet the road. The high sides of hills make corners you can’t see around. The sun’s out, but everything’s still soaking, the road steaming. Lucy presses the button and the window glass moves down, widens the gap, lets in damp fresh air. ‘Go right, … Read more…
‘Once had me’ wins short story award
Last week, I won the 2014 Sunday Star-Times Short Story Award for my story ‘Once had me’. The story was published in the Sunday Star-Times over the weekend. The SS-T Short Story Award, now in its 30th year, has been won by some of New Zealand’s best (and my favourite) writers — including Sarah Quigley, … Read more…
A six-month hunch: CreativeNZ Arts Grant funding
It’s taken me a week to post this, a week in which “t”s have been being crossed, and “i”s dotted (aka six months leave from the day job negotiated). I’ve been awarded an Arts Grant (Literature) by Creative New Zealand. The grant will fund me to write full-time for the first six months of 2015. What … Read more…