New Zealand Writers

FARRELL, Fiona

In all forms [her work] is energetic and original, delighting in unexpected juxtapositions and sudden shifts of scene or mood. This unpredictability is matched by linguistic flair and variety.
Fiona Farrell author entry by Andrew Mason from The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, edited by Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie (1998).

FARRELL, Fiona (1947 – ) is a poet, fiction writer and playwright. Born in Oamaru, Farrell was educated at the University of Otago (1966–1968) and then studied for five years at the University of Toronto, where she gained a Masters of Philosophy in Drama for her study of TS Eliot’s unfinished verse drama Sweeny Agonistes in 1976. She has worked as a lecturer in drama, and since 1989, has been a full-time writer.

Characteristic of Farrell’s work is her versatility with different forms. She has had many plays performed on stage and radio, The Perils of Pauline Smith (1990) 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 have appeared in many anthologies including The Oxford Book of Short Stories (Oxford, 1992) and in the company of Alice Munro, Nadine Gordimer and Hanif Kureshi in two volumes of Best Short Stories (ed. Giles Gordon and David Hughes, Heinemann: London, 1990 and 1995). Her poetry has also been widely anthologised, in collections including An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English (Oxford, 1997), and the best-selling Being Alive (Bloodaxe, 2005).

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 (Penguin,1992) won the 1993 New Zealand Book Award for Fiction. Her novels The Hopeful Traveller (Random House, 2002) and Book Book (Random House, 2004) were runners-up at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2003 and 2005 respectively, and were also nominated for International IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards 2003 and 2005. Farrell has held a number of residencies including the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship to Menton, France 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 (Random House, 2007), is described by the publisher as ‘an historical pastoral satirical scientifical romance, with mustelids', and reviewing the novel in the Sunday Star Times review, (May 6, 2007) Iain Sharpe called it 'brilliant'. It is to be published in North America in 2009. Her collection of poetry, The Pop-Up Book of Invasions (AUP, 2007) originated during Farrell's residency in Donoughmore. Iain Sharpe called it ‘a superlative collection ... bursting with ideas presented with warmth, wit and humanity' in the Sunday Star Times (September 5, 2004). 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.

Fiona Farrell lives on Banks Peninsula.

(KM)

Updated information

Fiona Farrell was honoured at the 2007 Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement for her contribution to New Zealand literature.

Links

• ‘Our trip to Takaka', in Best New Zealand Poems 2003
• ‘Falling in love on the way home', Fugacity 2005
• ‘Eel’, in Best New Zealand Poems 2005
• Fiona Farrell's Teaching Notes for The Hopeful Traveller
• Fiona Farrell's Teaching Notes for Mr Allbones' Ferrets
• Fiona Farrell's website

Publication list
Cutting Out (AUP, 1987), poetry
The Rock Garden (AUP, 1989), short stories
The Skinny Louie Book (Penguin, 1992), novel
Six Clever Girls Who Became Famous Women (Penguin, 1996), novel
The Inhabited Initial (AUP, 1999), poetry
Light Readings (Random, 2001), short stories
The Hopeful Traveller (Random, 2002), novel
Book Book (Random, 2004), novel
Mr Allbones' Ferrets (Random, 2007), novel
The Pop-Up Book of Invasions (AUP, 2007), poetry