Brown, Diane

IN BRIEF

Diane Brown has published poetry collections and novels. Her writing has appeared in a number of journals and anthologies, and she has been the recipient of key literary awards and fellowships. Brown has also won writing competitions in New Zealand and the UK. Before the Divorce We Go To Disneyland (1997) won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book of Poetry Award at the 1997 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. In 2006, Godwit published Brown’s memoir and poetry collection, Here comes another vital moment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brown, Diane (1951 - ) is a poet and novelist. Her poety has appeared in journals including Landfall, Poetry NZ and NZ Listener, and has won competitions in New Zealand and the UK.

Her first book, combining poetry and prose, is Before the Divorce We Go To Disneyland (1997). It won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book of Poetry Award at the 1997 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. Kim Worthington writes in New Zealand Books ‘Juxtaposing the sardonic and the lyrical...this novella-length book sits surprisingly comfortably on the borderline between autobiographical fiction and confessional autobiography.’

Brown completed her second book, a novel entitled If the tongue fits (1999) during her time as a Buddle Finlay Sargeson Fellow in 1997. Susan Budd describes this as ‘A deliciously original, gloriously hectic first novel...packed with wit and wisdom, poetry and poseurs, light-as-air comedy and enough earthy reality to provoke a little discomfort in the reader.’ (New Zealand Books).

Brown is currently chair of the New Zealand Society of Authors Otago branch.

8 Stages of Grace (2002) is a novel written in verse which follows the lives of Ruth and Grace, two neighbours at different stages of their lives.

8 Stages of Grace (2002) was longlisted for the Deutz Medal for Fiction in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2003 .

Liars & Lovers: A Travel Memoir (Vintage, 2004). In her early twenties and with a marriage already behind her, Diane Brown set off across the world by ship. Thirty years on, Brown tries to make sense of the old self as well as the new.

Learning to Lie Together (Random House, 2004) is a collection of poetry, dealing with relationships and with questions of time and place. Brown combines a lyrical style with remarkable candour and an eye for the absurd: ironing boards left in strange places, possums falling out of trees, screams in the park, men who throw everything out the door and much more.

In 2006, Godwit published Brown's memior and poetry collection, Here comes another vital moment, that considers the question, when does the ordinary become vital? For Diane, it is when she crosses boundaries: of countries, cultures and language; from poetry to prose; from the past to the present; the personal to the universal.

David Hill writes in the NZ Listener, 'The prose is packed, the b&w photos expressive and/or enigmatic, but the poetry really punches above its weight.'

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