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Profile
Characteristic of Fiona Farrell’s work is her versatility with different forms. She writes poetry, fiction, and scripts for radio and stage.
Farrell’s extraordinary talent was recognised in 2007 when she received the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement.
Selected published works
The Inhabited Initial, (poetry) 1999; The Hopeful Traveller, 2002; Book Book, 2004; Mr Allbones' Ferrets, 2007; The Pop-Up Book of Invasions, (poetry) 2007.
Biography
Fiona Farrell was born in Oamaru in 1947. She was educated at the University of Otago and then studied at the University of Toronto, where she gained a Masters of Philosophy in Drama for her study of T.S. Eliot’s unfinished verse drama Sweeny Agonistes in 1976. Since 1989 she has been a full time writer.
The Perils of Pauline Smith won the Mobil Award for Best Radio Drama in 1990, and Chook Chook (1992) remains one of Playmarket’s most frequently requested scripts. Her short stories and poetry have been widely anthologised.
Farrell has been the recipient of a number of major New Zealand book awards. She has won several awards for short fiction, including the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award and the American Express Award. Her first novel, The Skinny Louie Book (1992) won the 1993 New Zealand Book Award for Fiction. Her novels The Hopeful Traveller (2002) and Book Book (2004) were runners-up at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2003 and 2005 respectively. They were also nominated for International IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards. Farrell has held a number of residencies including the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship in 1995. She was the Canterbury University Writer in Residence 1991-1992, and held the inaugural Rathcoola Residency in Donoughmore, Ireland, in 2006.
In 2007, Farrell published two new books. Her fifth novel, Mr Allbones’ Ferrets (2007), is described by the publisher as ‘an historical pastoral satirical scientifical romance, with mustelids'. Walter Allbones and his ferrets really existed. Exotic species were sent from distant places to stock the collections of Europe while useful species were dispatched to found new colonies in the antipodes. This novel is to be published in North America in 2009. Her collection of poetry, The Pop-Up Book of Invasions (2007), originated during the Donoughmore residency. The poems draw vividly on the landscape, history and mythology of Ireland, sharing a sense of discovery, but they also make connections with home, New Zealand, childhood. Iain Sharpe called it ‘a superlative collection ... bursting with ideas presented with warmth, wit and humanity'.
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