Mary McCallum

Last updated

Mary McCallum
Mary McCallum 2008.jpg
McCallum in 2008
Born1961 (age 6263)
Lusaka, Zambia
LanguageEnglish
NationalityNew Zealander
Alma mater Wellington Girls' College, Victoria University of Wellington
GenreFiction, poetry, children’s
Notable awardsNew Zealand Society of Authors Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction (2008), Readers' Choice Award (2008)
Website
O Audacious Book

Mary McCallum (born 1961) is a publisher, author and journalist from New Zealand.

Contents

Background

Mary McCallum was born in 1961 in Lusaka, Zambia. Aged four, she moved to New Zealand and was educated in Wellington and the United Kingdom, including at the Wellington Girls’ College. In 1981 she received a BA in English Literature and Political Science from the Victoria University of Wellington (including studying under Bill Manhire). In 2005 she received an MA in creative writing from the International Institute in Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington. [1] [2]

Career

In 2013 McCallum co-founded Mākaro Press with her son Paul Stewart in Wellington, New Zealand. [3] Their first book was Eastbourne: An Anthology, which McCallum also co-edited with Maggie Rainey-Smith and Anne Manchester. Over the next five years Mākaro Press published books in a range of genres with a focus on fiction and poetry, using a hybrid publishing model whereby the authors publishing under the Submarine imprint contributed to the cost of the book. In 2018, McCallum co-founded a second press – The Cuba Press – with Sarah Bolland, and focused Mākaro Press on a limited number of titles a year eventually reducing it to a single literary novel. The Mākaro novel for 2019 was Auē by Becky Manawatu, which went on to win New Zealand's top fiction prize: the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize, as well as the MitoQ Award for Best First Novel and the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. It was number one on the bestsellers list for much of the following year, and continues to sell well. Two of Mākaro's other novels have won the best first book of fiction award and two others have been longlisted. One of the press's poetry books has also been longlisted for the poetry award.

McCallum's first novel, The Blue, was published in 2007 by Penguin New Zealand. [4] It won the Hubert Church Memorial Prize for Best First Book of Fiction at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards and the Readers' Choice Award. In 2014 she published a novel for children: Dappled Annie and the Tigrish (Gecko Press), with illustrations Annie Hayward. [5] It received a Kirkus gold star in the US. In 2018, Mary published her first collection of poems, XYZ of Happiness, under her own Submarine imprint. It was selected by the New Zealand Listener as one of the top ten poetry books of the year, and one of the poems was selected for Best NZ Poems.

In 2006 McCallum's essay on Eastbourne was published a collection of essays entitled Eastbourne, 100 Years with Alison Carew. [6]

McCallum has published in a number of literary journals including short stories in Turbine (2008) [7] and poetry in Landfall (#133, 1980). [1]

McCallum has been a feature writer for New Zealand Listener , Dominion Post,  The Press ,  New Novel Review . Since 2002 she has reviewed books for Radio New Zealand and in 2007 for the Good Morning  show on TVNZ. [1] She has also worked as a tutor, including teaching creative writing at Massey University since 2008. [1]

Awards

McCallum won the PEN Young Writer of the Year Award in 1979 and her writing was praised in the Denis Glover Awards. [1] She was awarded the 2003/2004  Lilian Ida Smith Award. [8]

Her novel The Blue won the New Zealand Society of Authors Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction and the Readers' Choice Award at the 2008  Montana New Zealand Book Awards. [9]

Creative New Zealand awarded her the Louis Johnson New Writer's Bursary to develop her novel second novel, Precarious. [1]

In 2008 McCallum was shortlisted for the Glenn Schaeffer Prize in Modern Letters. [10]

Related Research Articles

<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.

Billie Livingston is a Canadian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Livingston grew up in Toronto and Vancouver, British Columbia. She lives in Vancouver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heather O'Neill</span> Canadian writer (b. 1973)

Heather O'Neill is a Canadian novelist, poet, short story writer, screenwriter and journalist, who published her debut novel, Lullabies for Little Criminals, in 2006. The novel was subsequently selected for the 2007 edition of Canada Reads, where it was championed by singer-songwriter John K. Samson. Lullabies won the competition. The book also won the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for eight other major awards, including the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Governor General's Award and was longlisted for International Dublin Literary Award.

Te Herenga Waka University Press or THWUP is the book publishing arm of Victoria University of Wellington, located in Wellington, New Zealand. As of 2022, the press had published around 800 books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Jones (writer)</span> New Zealand writer and poet

Tim Jones is a New Zealand writer and poet.

<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">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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renée (writer)</span> New Zealand feminist writer and playwright (1929–2023)

Renée Gertrude Taylor, known professionally as Renée, was a New Zealand feminist writer, playwright, novelist and short story writer. She started writing plays in her 50s, with her first play, Setting the Table, written in 1981, and with her most well-known works being the trilogy of plays beginning with Wednesday to Come (1984). Renée described herself as a "lesbian feminist with socialist working-class ideals", and her plays feature strong female characters who are often working class.

<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">Sue Wootton</span> New Zealand poet

Sue Wootton is a New Zealand writer, specialising in poetry and short fiction.

Anna Smaill is a New Zealand poet and novelist, and a former violinist.

<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">Helen Heath</span> New Zealand poet

Helen Heath is a poet from New Zealand.

Maggie Rainey-Smith is a novelist, poet, short story writer, essayist and book reviewer. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Eirlys Elisabeth Hunter is a writer and creative writing teacher in New Zealand. She was born in London, England.

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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Becky Manawatu</span> New Zealand writer

Becky Manawatu is a New Zealand writer. In 2020, she won two Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for her first novel, Auē and Best Crime Novel at the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards.

Mākaro Press is a New Zealand publisher based in Wellington. It was founded in 2013 and has published several award-winning books including Auē by Becky Manawatu.

Kirsten Warner is a New Zealand novelist, poet and journalist. Her debut novel, The Sound of Breaking Glass (2018), won the Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction at the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Mary McCallum". New Zealand Book Council. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  2. "Mary McCallum". Gecko Press. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  3. Forster, Sarah (8 July 2014). "Island-styled success with Mākaro Press". Booksellers NZ. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  4. McCallum, Mary (2007). The Blue. Penguin Books. ISBN   9780143007234.
  5. McCallum, Mary (2014). Dappled Annie and the Tigrish . Gecko Press. ISBN   9781877579912.
  6. McCallum, Mary; Carew, Alison (2006). Eastbourne, 100 Years: The Borough of Eastbourne, 1906-1989 and Beyond. Pencarrow Press with Historical Society of Eastbourne. ISBN   9780473118112.
  7. McCullum, Mary. "Turbine 08 - The Stairwell". victoria.ac.nz. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  8. "NZSA Lilian Ida Smith Award". New Zealand Society of Authors & Writers Association. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  9. "Past Winners by Author". New Zealand Book Awards Trust. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  10. "Glenn Schaeffer Prize in Modern Letters - Literature - Christchurch City Libraries". christchurchcitylibraries.com. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.