Elizabeth Knox

Elizabeth Fiona Knox, ONZM, (born 15 February 1959, in Wellington, New Zealand) is an award-winning New Zealand writer. She has authored eleven novels, three autobiographical novella, and a collection of essays. Her best known works are The Vintner's Luck, which won several awards, has been published in nine languages,^[1] and has been made into a film of the same name by Niki Caro, and The Dreamhunter Duet, a literary fantasy series for teen readers. Her most recent novel was Mortal Fire, published in 2013, which has won several awards.

Background

Elizabeth and her two sisters were born and raised by atheist parents in a household where religion was often debated.^[2] They spent their childhood living in various small towns in New Zealand, including Pomare, Wadestown, Waikanae and Paremata.^[1] She later published a trilogy of novels that were influenced by her childhood experiences of living near Wellington.^[3] Knox had difficulties with writing when she was young because she was slightly dyslexic.^[2]

Knox had always enjoyed inventing stories as a child. When she was eleven she created an oral narrative history with her younger sister Sara and its characters and plot evolved based on their input along with the input of their older sister Mary and their friend Carol.^[4] It became an elaborate paracosm with many characters and intricate plotlines and involvements. When she was sixteen Knox's father overheard a discussion between her, her sisters and Carol regarding the consequences of a secret treaty set in their imaginary world and he remarked that he hoped they were writing this down.^[1] Following this they all tried "writing stories about, letters between, and poems by their characters"^[4] and Knox enjoyed it so much that she decided she would like to be a writer.^[5]

Writing career

In 1983, when Knox was 24, she started a degree in English Literature at Victoria University of Wellington. A year later, she started work on After Z-Hour in Bill Manhire's Original Composition course at Victoria.^[1] The novel was inspired by a memory she had of when was eleven and fell from a walnut tree on ANZAC Day. In hospital she overheard a conversation between an old man and her father about Passchendaele and life on the Salient in 1917.^[6] Bill Manhire encouraged her to write her novel, and told her he would be more interested in seeing her complete it, than her degree. After Z-Hour was published in 1987 by Victoria University Press and Knox graduated from Victoria University of Wellington the same year. She was also awarded the ICI Young Writers Bursary award that year.^[1]

In 1988 Fergus Barrowman, Nigel Cox, Knox, and Damien Wilkins, with the help of Bill Manhire, Alan Preston and Andrew Mason, co-founded the literary journal Sport.^[7] Knox was one of its editors and has also been a frequent contributor to the magazine.^[3]

Since 1997 Knox has been a full-time writer.^[1] She won the Victoria University of Wellington Writing Scholarship the same year.^[3] Her novel The Vintner's Luck was published in 1998. It chronicles the life of a peasant winemaker, Sobran Jodeau, and his relationship with the fallen angel Xas, which begins in 1808 in Burgundy, France, and spans 55 years. The novel was inspired by what she saw in a feverish dream when she had pneumonia.^[8] The Vintner's Luck won Knox widespread critical acclaim and numerous awards and it also raised her profile both within New Zealand and beyond.^[3]

After The Vintner's Luck Knox published three more novels. Between 2005 and 2007 her first young adult series, The Dreamhunter Duet, was published. It was described as a "Mansfield-meets-Mahy fantasy" and once again Knox was praised for her audacious imagination and ingeniously constructed tales.^[9]

In 2009 the movie adaptation of Knox's The Vintner's Luck directed and co-written by Niki Caro was released. The film was almost universally panned at the 34th Annual Toronto International Film Festival.^[10] Knox was disappointed at the direction the movie took as she felt Niki Caro "took out what the book was actually about", referring to the romantic relationship between Sobran and Xas which was a core aspect of the novel.^[11] Her sister, Sara Knox, who is gay, was also upset about the film version.^[12] Knox's bad experience with the film made her pull out of a potential film contract^[2] with NZ filmmaker Jonathan King^[13] for her young adult fantasy series, the Dreamhunter Duet.

Knox's most recent works are The Angel's Cut, a sequel to The Vintner's Luck, which follows the tale of Xas after the events of the first book and is set in 1930s Hollywood, Mortal Fire, another Southland book for young adults and Wake.

Publications

• After Z-Hour (1987)
• Paremata (1989)
• Treasure (1992)
• Pomare (1994)
• Glamour and the Sea (1996)
• Tawa (1998)
• The Vintner's Luck (1998)
• The High Jump (2000)
• Black Oxen (2001)
• Billie's Kiss (2002)
• Daylight (2003)
• Dreamhunter (Book 1 of the Dreamhunter Duet) (2005)
• Dreamquake (Book 2 of the Dreamhunter Duet) (2007)
• The Love School (essays) (2008)
• The Angel's Cut (Sequel to The Vintner's Luck)(2009)
• Mortal Fire (2013)
• Wake (2013)

Awards

• Treasure short-listed for New Zealand Book Award for Fiction, 1993^[14]
• Writer in Residence at Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington in 1997^[15]
• Recipient of Meridian Energy Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship, 1999, to enable an NZ author to work in Menton, France^[16]
• The Vintner′s Luck winner of 1999 Deutz Medal for Fiction^[17]
• The Vintner′s Luck winner of 1999 Reader's Choice Award^[17]
• The Vintner′s Luck winner of 1999 Booksellers' Choice Award^[3]
• The Vintner′s Luck long-listed for 1999 Orange Prize for Fiction^[18]
• Recipient of Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award in 2000^[19]
• The Vintner′s Luck winner of 2001 Tasmania Pacific Region Prize^[3]
• ONZM in 2002 New Zealand Queen's Birthday Honours list for services to literature^[20]
• Billie's Kiss runner-up of 2002 Deutz Medal for Fiction^[21]
• Daylight short-listed for Best Book in the South Pacific & South East Asian Region, for 2004 Commonwealth Writers Prize^[14]
• Dreamhunter short-listed for the 2006 Montana New Zealand Book Awards^[22]
• Dreamhunter winner of 2006 Esther Glen Award^[23]
• Dreamhunter chosen as a White Raven by the International Youth Library in 2006^[24]
• Dreamhunter winner of 2007 ALA Best Books For Young Adults award^[25]
• Dreamquake Honor Book of 2008 Michael L. Printz Award^[26]
• Dreamquake winner of 2008 ALA Best Books For Young Adults award^[27]
• The Invisible Road winner of 2009 Best Collected Work, Sir Julius Vogel Award^[28]
• The Love School Personal Essays winner of the biography section of the NZ Book Awards 2009
• Mortal Fire was a 2013 Booklist Editor’s Choice A Los Angeles Times Best Book Awards Finalist, and won the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards for YA. It was also chosen for a 2014 White Raven Award, from the International Youth Library.

Personal life

Currently Knox lives in Kelburn, Wellington and is married to Fergus Barrowman, a publisher at Victoria University Press. They have a son Jack Barrowman.^[29]

References

External links

• Elizabeth Knox's Website
• Biography on the New Zealand Book Council website
• Biography on Macmillan Books website
• Profile on The Arts Foundation website
• Biography on HarperCollins website
• Bibliography in the Auckland University Library's New Zealand Literature File website
• All works published at the NZETC website