Davis, Jackie
IN BRIEF
Jackie Davis is a prose writer and poet. While at Victoria University, completing her MA in Creative Writing, Davis won the Lilian Ida Smith Award for original composition. The following year her first novel, Breathe (2002), was published; her second novel, Swim, was released in 2003. She won the NZSA Foxton Fellowship in 2006, and her writing has appeared in a range of journals and magazines. Jackie Davis is available for school visits through the Writers in Schools programme.
ProfilePlace of residence: Gisborne, East Coast, New Zealand |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Davis, Jackie (1963 –) is a poet and prose writer.
Davis is a graduate of Bill Manhire’s MA in Creative Writing (2001) at the International Institute of Modern Letters. While at Victoria University, Davis won the Lilian Ida Smith Award for original composition. The following year, her first novel Breathe (2002) was published, and her second novel, Swim, was released in 2003. She won the NZSA Foxton Fellowship in 2006, worth $6,600.
Born and raised in New Plymouth, Davis began her professional career as a registered nurse, but in 2001 became a full-time writer. Her stories and poems have appeared in The Listener, Takahe, Metro and the Australian School Magazine.
Steve Scott writes, that in Breathe, Davis shows herself to be ‘a gifted story teller with the rare ability to capture raw emotions and present them in an unsentimental yet sincere fashion.’
Jackie Davis lives in Gisborne and is available for school visits through the Writers in Schools programme.
writers in schools information
Davis is able to visit schools outside her region and is happy to talk about writing prose and novels. She prefers to talk to students between the ages of 9 to 12 years. She is available for workshops by prior arrangement. Please continue down the page to see Davis answers to a list of questions provided by school students:
KAPAI: Kids' Authors Pictures and Information
Where do you live?
In Gisborne, in a house that is one hundred and ten years old. It even has maid’s quarters and a stable.
What books do you read?
I try to read mostly New Zealand fiction, but like to read widely.
Who is your favourite author?
Annie Proulx.
How do you think up ideas?
They drift down onto my brain like feathers – sometimes a character, sometimes the first line of a story (or a book), sometimes a situation I encounter.
What is the best thing about being a writer?
Being able to touch people, to make them laugh, or cry, with my words.
Questions from Primary School students
Do you have any pets?
My sons have a cat each. Michael has a black and white cat called Max and Simon has a ginger cat called Poppy.
What is your favourite colour?
Yellow.
What is your favourite food?
Avocado and bacon on Vogels toast — yum!
What is your favourite movie?
Life is Beautiful
What is your favourite game?
Anything with my two children!
What is the most fun thing about being an author?
Inventing interesting characters that get to do things that I wouldn’t be able to.
How do you make books?
I write with pen and paper, making up the story as I go along (I have no idea how they will end up until I get there!)
Where do you like to go for your holidays?
I had an awesome holiday with my kids on the Gold Coast a couple of years ago – I’d like to go there every year!
What was the naughtiest thing you ever did at school?
I was the best-behaved child that ever went to school, anywhere, and I don’t think I ever did anything naughty. School was too much fun, anyway.
Questions from Secondary School students
How did you get started?
I was always good at writing at school, and when I was an adult, I went to a writing workshop, met up with some other people who wanted to write, and we started a writing group. We had to write a story for every meeting.
Who inspired you when you were getting started?
The members of my writing group, who were all encouraging. I felt that I had an obligation to produce a good story every time we met.
What advice would you give an aspiring writer?
Read, read, read. Write, write, write. Find someone you can trust to share your work with.
Is it difficult to make a living as a writer in New Zealand?
Yes, but having a passion for writing means I cannot not write!
What were you like as a teenager?
Quiet, always the observer (still am). Had a close group of good friends. Fairly well behaved at school — which I loved. I found school work easy — except for chemistry.
Is there anything else you would like to tell us about yourself?
I write longhand, with pen and paper in cafes, on park benches, and at the beach. And I write on the backs of old stories — the ultimate recycler — and so if I get bored, I can turn the page over and read something else and maybe get inspired by it!
I’ve recently started writing straight onto the computer and have been surprised that I can be just as creative as when I write longhand, but it’s twice as quick.
