Anna Smaill

Last updated

Anna Smaill
BornAnna Smaill
April 1979
Auckland, New Zealand
Occupation Poet, Writer, Violinist
NationalityNew Zealand
Alma mater University of Auckland
Victoria University of Wellington
University College London
SubjectPoetry
Notable awardsWorld Fantasy Award for Best Novel 2016.
SpouseCarl Shuker
Children1
Website
www.annasmaill.com

Anna Smaill (born April 1979) is a New Zealand poet and novelist, and a former violinist.

Contents

Early life and education

Smaill was born in Auckland in 1979. She started playing the violin aged seven. [1] She studied musical performance at the University of Canterbury in the late 1990s and during her time at Canterbury, she decided to not become a professional violinist, but pursue a career in writing instead. She began studying English and music theory, before changing to the University of Auckland, from where she graduated with a master's degree in English. [2] She spent the following year in Wellington at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating with a masters in creative writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters. [3] She lived in Tokyo, Japan, from 2004 to 2006. Smaill started a PhD in contemporary American poetry at University College London in the United Kingdom, and finished it after returning to live in Wellington in 2013. [2] She was a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Hertfordshire from 2009 to 2012. [4]

Writing

Smaill was included in the Best New Zealand Poems series in 2002 [5] and 2005. [6] Her first collection of poetry, The Violinist in Spring, was published in 2006. Her first novel, The Chimes, was published in 2015 and was longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize, [7] [8] but did not make the shortlist. [9] She had been unaware that her publisher had submitted The Chimes for the award. [3] The Chimes was awarded the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in October 2016.

Smaill writes her work in longhand before typing it up. [3] The collection of poems and her debut novel are the only two books published by Smaill so far; as of 2015, she had started writing a second novel. [10]

Family

Smaill met the novelist Carl Shuker while studying at Victoria University. They married in 2010 and have one daughter. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Mahy</span> New Zealand childrens writer (1936–2012)

Margaret Mahy was a New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. Many of her story plots have strong supernatural elements but her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up. She wrote more than 100 picture books, 40 novels and 20 collections of short stories. At her death she was one of thirty writers to win the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for her "lasting contribution to children's literature".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Chidgey</span> New Zealand writer

Catherine Chidgey is a New Zealand novelist, short-story writer and university lecturer. She has published eight novels. Her honours include the inaugural Prize in Modern Letters; the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship to Menton, France; Best First Book at both the New Zealand Book Awards and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize ; the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards on two occasions; and the Janet Frame Fiction Prize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keri Hulme</span> New Zealand writer (1947–2021)

Keri Ann Ruhi Hulme was a New Zealand novelist, poet and short-story writer. She also wrote under the pen name Kai Tainui. Her novel The Bone People won the Booker Prize in 1985; she was the first New Zealander to win the award, and also the first writer to win the prize for a debut novel. Hulme's writing explores themes of isolation, postcolonial and multicultural identity, and Māori, Celtic, and Norse mythology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauris Edmond</span> New Zealand writer

Lauris Dorothy Edmond was a New Zealand poet and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Perkins (novelist)</span> New Zealand author (born 1970)

Emily Justine Perkins is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer, playwright and university lecturer. Over the course of her career Perkins has written five novels, one collection of short stories and two plays. She has won a number of notable literary awards, including twice winning the top award for fiction at the New Zealand Book Awards. In 2011 she received an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tusiata Avia</span> New Zealand poet and childrens author

Donna Tusiata Avia is a New Zealand poet and children's author. She has been recognised for her work through receiving a 2020 Queen's Birthday Honour and in 2021 her collection The Savage Coloniser won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. The Savage Coloniser and her previous work Wild Dogs Under My Skirt have been turned into live stage plays presented in a number of locations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Catton</span> New Zealand novelist and screenwriter

Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand novelist and screenwriter. Born in Canada, Catton moved to New Zealand as a child and grew up in Christchurch. She completed a master's degree in creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters. Her award-winning debut novel, The Rehearsal, written as her Master's thesis, was published in 2008, and has been adapted into a 2016 film of the same name. Her second novel, The Luminaries, won the 2013 Booker Prize, making Catton the youngest author ever to win the prize and only the second New Zealander. It was subsequently adapted into a television miniseries, with Catton as screenwriter. In 2023, she was named on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list.

Marilyn Rose Duckworth is a New Zealand novelist, poet and short story writer. Since her first novel was published at the age of 23 in 1959, she has published fifteen novels, one novella, a collection of short stories and a collection of poetry. Many of her novels feature women with complex lives and relationships. She has also written for television and radio. Over the course of her career she has received a number of prestigious awards including the top prize for fiction at the New Zealand Book Awards for Disorderly Conduct (1984) and a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Ussher</span>

Philippa Jane Ussher is one of New Zealand's foremost documentary and portrait photographers. She joined the New Zealand Listener in 1977 and was chief photographer for 29 years, leaving to take up a career as a freelance photographer and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paula Morris</span> New Zealand writer

Paula Jane Kiri Morris is a New Zealand novelist, short-story writer editor and literary academic. She is an associate professor at the University of Auckland and founder of the Academy of New Zealand Literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Quigley</span> New Zealand author

Sarah Quigley is a New Zealand writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Neale</span> New Zealand novelist and poet

Emma Neale is a novelist and poet from New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary McCallum</span> New Zealand author and journalist

Mary McCallum is a publisher, author and journalist from New Zealand.

Pip Adam is a novelist, short story writer, and reviewer from New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airini Beautrais</span> New Zealand poet and short-story writer (born 1982)

Airini Jane Beautrais is a poet and short-story writer from New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whiti Hereaka</span> New Zealand writer (born 1978)

Whiti Hereaka is a New Zealand playwright, novelist and screenwriter and a barrister and solicitor. She has held a number of writing residencies and appeared at literary festivals in New Zealand and overseas, and several of her books and plays have been shortlisted for or won awards. In 2022 her book Kurangaituku won the prize for fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and Bugs won an Honour Award in the 2014 New Zealand Post Awards for Children and Young Adults. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Laurence Fearnley is a New Zealand short-story writer, novelist and non-fiction writer. Several of her books have been shortlisted for or have won awards, both in New Zealand and overseas, including The Hut Builder, which won the fiction category of the 2011 NZ Post Book Awards. She has also been the recipient of a number of writing awards and residencies including the Robert Burns Fellowship, the Janet Frame Memorial Award and the Artists to Antarctica Programme.

Chris Price is a poet, editor and creative writing teacher. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Frankie McMillan is a writer of poetry, fiction and flash fiction. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Kirsten McDougall is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer and creative writing lecturer. She has published three novels, and won the 2021 Sunday Star-Times short story competition.

References

  1. Kidd, James (14 February 2015). "Anna Smaill interview: When she thought music was her calling, writing struck a chord" . The Independent . Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  2. 1 2 Gates, Charlie (15 August 2015). "Christchurch inspires Booker nominee". The Press . p. A12. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Salter, Caitlin (6 August 2015). "Wellington author Anna Smaill gains world recognition". The Dominion Post . Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  4. "Anna Smaill: Feel the fear and read it anyway". Booknotes. 2 April 2015. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  5. Smither, Elizabeth (March 2003). "Best New Zealand Poems 2002-Introduction". Best New Zealand Poems. International Institute of Modern Letters. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  6. Johnston, Andrew (March 2006). "Best New Zealand Poems 2005-Contents". Best New Zealand Poems. International Institute of Modern Letters. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  7. "Man Booker Prize announces 2015 longlist" . Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  8. "Smaill, Anna" . Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  9. "Pulitzer winner makes Booker Prize shortlist". BBC News . 15 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  10. "New Zealand writer longlisted for Man Booker Prize". The New Zealand Herald . 30 July 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015.