Paula Jane Kiri Morris (born 18 August 1965) 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.
Life Morris was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. Her father is a New Zealander and her mother is English; the family's tribal affiliations are Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Manuhiri and Ngāti Whātua. She graduated from the University of Auckland in 1985 with a BA in English and history, and moved to the United Kingdom the same year. After completing a DPhil at the University of York, under the supervision of Hermione Lee, and after a brief stint living in Manchester, she moved to London, working for BBC Radio 3 as a production assistant, Virgin Records as Press Officer for Virgin Classics, and PolyGram (now Universal) as Press and Promotions Manager for Philips.About Paula . paula-morris.com
In 1994, Morris moved to New York to become Product Manager for the German record label ECM, then distributed by BMG. During her four years at BMG Classics she rose to become Label Director of ECM and eventually vice-president of Marketing for World Music and Jazz.
Morris began taking fiction-writing classes at the West Side Y in 1997,Interview with Paula Morris . Book Divas and started making her living from writing two years later, freelancing as a copywriter and promotions manager for The New York Times, writing encyclopaedia entries for Contemporary Black Biography,King Oliver Facts, information, pictures. Encyclopedia.com and also working as a freelance branding consultant. In 2001 she moved back to New Zealand to join the MA in Creative Writing programme at the International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington, where she was taught by Bill Manhire.Paula Morris interview – Book Club – Books. The Listener
From 2002 to 2004, Morris attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she was the recipient of the Glenn Schaeffer Fellowship (2002–03)Prize Winners – International Institute of Modern Letters. Victoria University of Wellington and a Teaching-Writing Fellowship (2003–04),Paula Morris. New Zealand Book Council graduating with an MFA. In the spring of 2003 she was also the University of Iowa International Program's Writer-in-Residence.Writer-in-Residence To Speak April 21. University News Service – The University of Iowa (April 2003)
From 2005 until 2010, Morris was an assistant professor at Tulane University in New Orleans,For novelist Paula Morris, the shadows in New Orleans history invite exploration. NOLA.com (9 September 2009). Retrieved on 26 December 2015. moving back to the UK in 2010 to teach at the University of Stirling in Scotland. At Stirling she was programme director of the new MLitt in Creative Writing (Prose).An Interview with Paula Morris. The Gothic Imagination
Between 2012 and 2014, Morris was fiction writer-in-residence at the University of Sheffield.Morris – Staff . The University of Sheffield. Since 2015 she has taught at the University of Auckland, where she convenes the Master of Creative Writing programme.
Her short story False River was shortlisted for the 2015 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the richest prize in the world for a single short story. It is the title story in her collection False River (Penguin, 2017), a book that combines stories and essays around the theme of lies and secret histories.
Career Morris's MA dissertation project at Victoria University won that year's Adam Foundation PrizePrize Winners – International Institute of Modern Letters . Victoria University of Wellington and became her first published novel, Queen of Beauty (Penguin New Zealand, 2002).Queen Of Beauty « Paula Morris, New Zealand Author. paula-morris.com It won the NZSA Hubert Church Best Book of Fiction at the 2003 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.Montana New Zealand Book Awards – Literature. Christchurch City Libraries
Many of the stories that formed Morris' dissertation project at Iowa, supervised by Marilynne Robinson, are collected in Forbidden Cities (Penguin New Zealand, 2008),Forbidden Cities « Paula Morris, New Zealand Author. Paula-morris.com (20 June 2014). Retrieved on 26 December 2015. which was a finalist in the 2009 Commonwealth Prize SE Asia/Pacific region. At Iowa Morris also worked on two novels – Hibiscus Coast (Penguin New Zealand, 2005)Hibiscus Coast « Paula Morris, New Zealand Author. paula-morris.com and Trendy But Casual (Penguin New Zealand, 2007)Trendy But Casual « Paula Morris, New Zealand Author. paula-morris.com – both of which she completed while living in New Orleans.
Her 2011 novel RangatiraRangatira « Paula Morris, New Zealand Author. paula-morris.com won best work of fiction at the 2012 New Zealand Post Book Awards,2012 Awards. Booksellers New Zealand and fiction winner at the 2012 Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards. The novel was serialised and broadcast by Radio New Zealand in 2012National : Programmes : The Reading : Rangatira by Paula Morris. Radio New Zealand and published in German that year by Walde + Graf.Walde + Graf. waldegraf.de It was longlisted for the 2013 International Dublin Literary Award.Rangatira | International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award . impacdublinaward.ie
Morris has appeared at literary festivals and conferences in the US, China, New Zealand, the UK, Germany and Switzerland, and held a number of writer's residencies, including the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship in 2008 (with Brigid Lowry).Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship . Buddle Findlay – New Zealand Lawyers During her tenure as a Sargeson fellow, Morris undertook two editorial projects: The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Short Stories (2008) The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Short Stories « Paula Morris, New Zealand Author . paula-morris.com and an expatriate-writing issue of Landfall.landfall 217 Otago University Press, New Zealand. Otago.ac.nz. Retrieved on 26 December 2015.
She also wrote her first Young Adult novel, Ruined,Ruined « Paula Morris, New Zealand Author. Paula-morris.com (20 June 2014). Retrieved on 26 December 2015. published in 2009 by Scholastic US. Morris followed this with another YA supernatural mystery, Dark Souls (2011)Dark Souls « Paula Morris, New Zealand Author. paula-morris.com and Unbroken (2013),Unbroken « Paula Morris, New Zealand Author. Paula-morris.com (20 June 2014). Retrieved on 26 December 2015. which is a sequel to Ruined. Her most recent Young Adult novel is The Eternal City, Scholastic.com. Retrieved on 21 April 2016. set in contemporary Rome. In 2013 Morris published her first children's book, the second title in Puffin's New Zealand Girls series: Hene and the Burning Harbour.
Morris has been awarded a number of residencies, including the Brecht House in Denmark, and the Bellagio Foundation in Italy.Kiwi author receives prestigious Bellagio Residency | Booksellers New Zealand. Booksellers.co.nz (11 June 2014). Retrieved on 26 December 2015. In 2016 she was a writer-in-residence at the Passa Porta International House of Literature in Brussels.Retrieved on 2016-04-21. She has held two residencies at the International Writers' and translators' House in Ventspils, Latvia – in 2015 and 2017.
In 2018, she was awarded the Katherine Mansfield Menton Prize,. www.thearts.co.nz. Retrieved on 2 January 2019 and in the 2019 New Year Honours she appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to literature.
Morris was co-editor of two landmark anthologies of fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction: Ko Aotearoa Tātou (Otago University Press 2020) . www.otago.ac.nz. Retrieved on 22 November 2021 and, with Alison Wong, A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand (Auckland University Press 2021).. www.https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/ Retrieved on 22 November 2021 In 2020 she collaborated with photographer Haru Sameshima on Shining Land: Looking for Robin Hyde (Massey University Press), which was longlisted for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards (Otago University Press 2020).. www.masseypress.ac.nz. Retrieved on 22 November 2021
In November 2021 Morris launched the website KoreaSeen, a platform for reviews and articles about Korean television and film, both classic and contemporary.. www.koreaseen.com. Retrieved on 22 November 2021
An associate professor at the University of Auckland, Morris directs the Master of Creative Writing degree programme.
Bibliography Queen of Beauty (2002) Hibiscus Coast (2005) Trendy but Casual (2007) Forbidden Cities (2008) The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Short Stories (editor) (2008) Ruined (2009) Dark Souls (2011) Rangatira (2011) Unbroken (2013) Hene and the Burning Harbour (2013) On Coming Home (2015) The Eternal City (2015) False River (2017) Shining Land: Looking for Robin Hyde (2020) Ko Aotearoa Tātou (2020) A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand (2021)
References
External links Official Site New Zealand Book Council Blog Amazon Author's Page Frankfurt Book Fair