Rainey Smith, Maggie
IN BRIEF
Maggie Rainey-Smith is a novelist. She has also published non-fiction, short stories and poetry in collections and anthologies. Rainey-Smith approaches her subject matter with fresh insight, extending the genre of women’s fiction in particular. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature as well as several other writing-based qualifications. Her first novel, set in Wellington, explores issues of class and relationships. Her second novel is also published by Random House.
About the Author
Rainey-Smith, Maggie (1950- ) was born in Richmond, Nelson and now lives in Wellington with her husband. She has two adult sons.
Rainey-Smith grew up in Richmond and travelled and lived in the United Kingdom and Norway in the early 1970s. She returned to Wellington, where she established a successful recruitment consultancy.
She has completed two undergraduate writing workshops at Victoria University and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature as well as completing Owen Marshall’s Aoraki Writing Course in 2001 and the Whitirea Advanced Diploma in Writing in 2003.
Her first novel, About Turns, published by Random House in 2005, explores class distinctions in New Zealand through the central character, Irene, who grew up in Petone but has married into the middle classes and is now a resident of affluent Karori. The plot revolves around Irene facing up to the members of her new book group about her past as a marching girl in Petone and the different responses she receives from her fellow members and friends from her past.
'Rainey-Smith frees herself from the constraints of a great deal of women’s fiction by steering away from romantic love. Instead, she explores themes of friendship, infidelity, literature and class in New Zealand.”'(Kimberly Bartlett, Herald on Sunday)
Rainey-Smith has also had essays shortlisted in the Landfall Essay Competition 2004, and the Cultural Studies Essay Competition Takake 2004. She has had short stories and poems published by HarperCollins and Exisle Publishing and in Sport, Takahe and The Listener.
Rainey-Smith's second novel is Turbulence (Random House, 2007).
Media Links and Clips
- Maggie Rainey-Smith's website
- Maggie Rainey-Smith's blog
- Feature article in the Sunday Star-Times about Rainey-Smith's work with women in Arohata Prison. (Written by Iona McNaughton)
- Maggie Rainey-Smith's twitter feed
- Rainey-Smith's biography for the Society of Authors
