Owen Marshall Jones CNZM (born 17 August 1941), who writes under the pen name Owen Marshall, is a New Zealand short story writer and novelist.
Marshall was born in Te Kūiti on 17 August 1941. [1] He was the third of nine children; his father was a Methodist minister, and his mother (whose maiden name was Marshall) died when he was two. His father remarried about three years later and went on to have a further six children. The family lived in Blenheim and Timaru, and Marshall was educated at Timaru Boys' High School. He graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Master of Arts degree in English in 1964, and taught at Waitaki Boys' High School for 25 years before becoming a full-time author. [2]
Marshall is the older half-brother of Rhys Jones. [3]
In 1985 and 1988, Marshall received the Lilian Ida Smith Award (Fiction). [4] In the 2000 New Year Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to literature, [5] and in the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours, he was promoted to Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, also for services to literature. [6] In 2013, he was the winner of the fiction section of the Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement [7]
Two of Marshall's short stories have been turned into feature films. Coming Home in the Dark (2021) is a psychological thriller directed by James Ashcroft. [8] Horror film, The Rule of Jenny Pen , also directed by Ashcroft, was released in 2024. [9]
William Manhire is a New Zealand poet, short story writer, emeritus professor, and New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate (1997–1998). He founded New Zealand's first creative writing course at Victoria University of Wellington in 1975, founded the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2001, and has been a strong promoter of New Zealand literature and poetry throughout his career. Many of New Zealand's leading writers graduated from his courses at Victoria. He has received many notable awards including a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2007 and an Arts Foundation Icon Award in 2018.
Robert Philip Temple is a Dunedin-based New Zealand author of novels, children's stories, and non-fiction. His work is characterised by a strong association with the outdoors and New Zealand ecology.
William James Mudie Larnach was a New Zealand businessman and politician. He is known for his extravagant incomplete house near Dunedin called Larnach's castle by his opponents and now known as Larnach Castle. He is also remembered for his suicide within parliament buildings when faced with bankruptcy and consequent loss of his seat in parliament.
Priscilla Muriel McQueen is a New Zealand poet and three-time winner of the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry.
Tessa Duder is a New Zealand author of novels for young people, short stories, plays and non-fiction, and a former swimmer who won a silver medal for her country at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. As a writer, she is primarily known for her Alex quartet and long-term advocacy for New Zealand children's literature. As an editor, she has also published a number of anthologies. In 2020 she received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in acknowledgement of her significant contributions to New Zealand fiction.
Brian Lindsay Turner is a New Zealand poet and author. He played hockey for New Zealand in the 1960s; senior cricket in Dunedin and Wellington; and was a veteran road cyclist of note. His mountaineering experience includes an ascent of a number of major peaks including Aoraki / Mount Cook.
O.E. Middleton was a New Zealand writer of short stories, described as belonging to the vernacular critical realist tradition of Frank Sargeson. He was the brother of noted New Zealand novelist Ian Middleton, and like him also blind from middle age. Mentored by Frank Sargeson in Auckland in the late 1950s, he moved to Dunedin to take up the Robert Burns Fellowship (1970) at the University of Otago.
Peter Northe Wells was a New Zealand writer, filmmaker, and historian. He was mainly known for his fiction, but also explored his interest in gay and historical themes in a number of expressive drama and documentary films from the 1980s onwards.
Sir Vincent Gerard O'Sullivan was a New Zealand poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, critic, editor, biographer, librettist, and academic. From 1988 to 2004 he was a professor of English literature at Victoria University of Wellington, and in 2013 he was appointed the New Zealand Poet Laureate.
Fiona Farrell is a New Zealand poet, fiction and non-fiction writer and playwright.
Elspeth Somerville Sandys is a New Zealand author and script writer.
Stephanie Patricia Johnson is a poet, playwright, and short story writer from New Zealand. She lives in Auckland with her husband, film editor Tim Woodhouse, although she lived in Australia for much of her twenties. Many of her books have been published there, and her non-fiction book West Island, about New Zealanders in Australia, is partly autobiographical.
The 2011 New Year Honours in New Zealand were appointments by Elizabeth II in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders, and to celebrate the passing of 2010 and the beginning of 2011. They were announced on 31 December 2010.
The 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours in New Zealand, celebrating the official birthday and diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, were appointments made by the Queen in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. They were announced on 4 June 2012.
The 2000 New Year Honours in New Zealand were appointments by Elizabeth II in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders, and to celebrate the passing of 1999 and the beginning of 2000. They were announced on 31 December 1999.
The 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours in New Zealand, celebrating the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, were appointments made by the Queen in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. They were announced on 7 June 2004.
The 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours in New Zealand, celebrating the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, were appointments made by the Queen in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. They were announced on 3 June 1996.
The 1985 New Year Honours in New Zealand were appointments by Elizabeth II on the advice of the New Zealand government to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. The awards celebrated the passing of 1984 and the beginning of 1985, and were announced on 31 December 1984.
The 1989 New Year Honours in New Zealand were appointments by Elizabeth II on the advice of the New Zealand government to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. The awards celebrated the passing of 1988 and the beginning of 1989, and were announced on 31 December 1988.
Michael Gifkins was a New Zealand literary agent, short story writer, critic, publisher and editor. Having written three collections of short stories himself in the 1980s, Gifkins later represented a number of leading New Zealand writers, including Lloyd Jones. After his death, the New Zealand Society of Authors established the Michael Gifkins Prize for an Unpublished Novel which is awarded annually.