Matinee Idyll - New Zealand Writers

When I first wrote these pages there was very little on the Internet about New Zealand writers, except for a list of names. There are now some comprehensive sites, so I am not going to expand this section. The writers listed here have connections with topics on this site.

Frame, Janet

(1924-2004)

Her works include:-

The Lagoon (1951) (story collection)
Owls Do Cry (1957) (novel)
Faces In The Water (1961) (novel)
The Edge Of The Alphabet (1962) (novel)
Scented Gardens For The Blind (1963) (novel)
The Adaptable Man (1965) (novel)
Intensive Care (1970) (novel)
Living In The Maniototo (1979) (novel)
A State Of Siege (1982) (novel)
The Carpathians (1988) (novel)
You Are Now Entering The Human Heart (story collection)
To The Is-Land (1982) (autobiography)
An Angel At My Table (1984) (autobiography)
The Envoy From Mirror City (1985) (autobiography)
The three volumes of autobiography were filmed as An Angel At My Table - music by Don McGlashan of the Muttonbirds.

The Carpathians tells of a woman from New York who goes to a small town on the North Island of New Zealand on a kind of pilgrimage. "She came all the way from America..." (As far as I know, this book has nothing to do with Mean To Me)

Janet Frame (New Zealand Book Council)

Hunt, Sam

(1946-)

Born in Auckland. Poet. Taught Noel (then known as Geoffrey) Crombie in 1967, for a short time, at Mana College, Porirua, near Wellington. Supported three Split Enz shows (without Tim) in 1983. Did TV interview with Tim in 1983. Part of ENZSO, 1996. ENZSO², 1998.

Sam Hunt (New Zealand Book Council)

Sam Hunt - Enzso - ENZSO 2 (Wikipedia)

ENZSO, ENZSO 2 (Australian Rock Database)

McCormick, Gary

(1951–)

The poet in Mean To Me.

Gary McCormick (New Zealand Book Council)

Morrieson, Ronald Hugh

(1922-72)

Mentioned by Neil Finn in The Guardian, 24th September, 1998. See Frank Sargeson.

Lived all his life in Harewa, North Island, where he was a music teacher, apart from one very brief trip to Auckland.

His works include:-

The Scarecrow (1963)
Came A Hot Friday (1964)
Predicament (1974)
Pallet On The Floor (1976)

Descriptions of his work include the words "vulgarity", "delightfully voyeuristic" and "perverse"!

Three of his books have been made into films:

Ronald Hugh Morrieson (New Zealand Book Council)

Sargeson, Frank

(1903-82)

Mentioned by Neil in The Final Interview...? promo CD, - saying you don't have to travel to experience life, but you do need to keep you eyes open. But in The Guardian, (24th September, 1998) Neil says the same thing of Ronald Hugh Morrieson! From what I've found out, I think he meant the latter on The Final Interview.... I make similar mistakes, so I'm not going to comment :-)

Frank Sargeson was an influence on Janet Frame's writing.

His works include:-

I Saw In My Dream (1946)
I For One... (1954)
Memoirs Of A Peon (1965)
The Hangover (1967)
Joy Of The Worm (1969)
Sunset Village (1976)
That Summer (1946) (novella)
Collected Short Stories (1965)

Frank Sargeson (New Zealand Book Council)

Links

National Library of New Zealand

New Zealand Book Council

Page compiled by carolyn
Last updated 29th March, 2009.