Morris, Paula

IN BRIEF

Paula Morris is a fiction writer of English and Ngati Wai descent. Morris has received awards and fellowships for her writing, and she was the Glenn Schaeffer New Zealand fellow in 2002, the same year that her debut award-winning novel, Queen of Beauty, was released. She has published short stories in journals and anthologies, and her collection, Forbidden Cities, was published in 2008. Many of her stories have been broadcast in New Zealand and the USA.

Photo Credit: Rob Trathen

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Morris, Paula (1965 - ) is a novelist and short story writer. She was born in Auckland and is of English and Ngati Wai descent.

Morris attended the University of Auckland where, in 1985, she received a BA in English and History. She went on to the University of York, England where she completed a D.Phil in 1990.

In 2001, Morris completed an MA in Creative Writing at the Institute of International Letters. While at the Institute, she wrote the novel Queen of Beauty, which won the 2001 Adam Foundation Prize for Creative Writing.

In 2002, she began an MFA at the University of Iowa as the Glenn Schaeffer New Zealand Fellow, as part of her Scholarship in Modern Letters. She was awarded a Teaching-Writing fellowship for her second year of study in Iowa, and was appointed Writer in Residence by the university's International Programs in spring 2003.

In the early 90s, Morris worked in London, first at BBC Radio 3 and then as a publicist for both Virgin Records and Polygram Records. She moved to New York in 1994 to work for BMG Entertainment, initially for ECM Records and later for RCA Victor, where she was vice president of marketing.

Morris's first novel, Queen of Beauty, was published in 2002, and it featured in a number of 'best of 2002' book lists. The Listener called it the 'local debut of the year ... a warm, unsentimental portrait of a family in all its confusion and conflicting stories.' At the 2003 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, Paula Morris was awarded the New Zealand Society of Authors Hubert Church Best First Book Award for fiction with Queen of Beauty, a book described by the New Zealand Herald as a 'stunning debut novel...a masterful work'.

Morris's short stories have been published in numerous anthologies, literary journals and magazines, and broadcast on the radio in New Zealand and the US. She also writes essays, book reviews, and arts features, and has twice been a finalist for Reviewer of the Year in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

Hibiscus Coast (2005) was published by Penguin. A literary thriller set in contemporary Auckland and Shanghai, the novel tells the story of a bold scheme to steal Goldie paintings from the Auckland Museum and replaces them with expert forgeries. The Christchurch Press suggested that 'Hibiscus Coast continues its predecessor's strengths of fine characterization and evocative writing; and goes further by adding impressive qualities, such as dynamic plot and knife-edge storytelling.' The novel was long-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Award, and the film rights were optioned by Touchdown Productions.

Trendy but Casual (Penguin, 2007), described as a 'comedy of bad manners' set in New York City, satirises the PR industry, and the popular obsession with celebrity. 'Morris vividly evokes the ur-city in all its hectic glory,' wrote Jolisa Gracewood, in the Listener, contending that it 'captures the vanity of turn of the century Manhattan in a blizzard of knowing cultural references...a playful, sparkling snow globe of a novel.'

The stories in the collection, Forbidden Cities (Penguin, 2008), roam around the world - Auckland, Los Angeles, Shanghai, London, Budapest, New York, New Orleans - exploring places of escape, transgression, ambition, delusions, and desire. The New Zealand Herald called it 'one of the best short story collections written by a New Zealander in years.'

Morris has made festival or panel appearances at events in New Zealand, the US, the UK, and China; several US universities have hosted her as a visiting writer. For the second half of 2008, Morris was the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellow at the Sargeson Flat in Auckland.

Recently, Morris edited the Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Short Stories (Penguin, 2009), which provides a fascinating snapshot of New Zealand fiction in the early twenty-first century.

Paula Morris lives in New Orleans.

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Media links and clips

• Link to Paula Morris' blog, Trendy but Casual
• Review of Paula Morris' book Trendy but Casual in the NZ Listener
• Interview with Paula Morris in the Lumiere Reader
• Paula Morris on You Tube

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