Smaill, Anna
IN BRIEF
Anna Smaill is a poet who has a background in English literature and music performance. Her first collection, The Violinist in Spring (2006) was listed as one of the best books in the NZ Listener. Paola Bilbrough says, ‘Smaill has a flair for graceful matter-of-factness, a deceptive simplicity, which makes her work seem effortless’. Smaill’s poems have been widely published in journals and magazines, and they were selected for Best New Zealand Poems in both 2002 and 2005.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Smaill, Anna (1979 – ) is a poet. Born in Auckland, she graduated from Auckland University with a Masters in English Literature and from Victoria University of Wellington with a Masters in Creative Writing.
Smaill’s first collection of poetry, The Violinist in Spring, was published in 2006 and was listed as one of the best books of 2006 by the NZ Listener. Many reviewers have commented on the ‘music’ in the poems, perhaps influenced by Smaill’s studies in music and violin performance. Writing in New Zealand Books, Paola Bilbrough comments that ‘Smaill has a flair for graceful matter-of-factness, a deceptive simplicity, which makes her work seem effortless…The Violinist is also a meditation on what it means to be alive. It is, says Smaill, ‘braving the bewilderment of a story’s merciless onward bent/without letting story desert you.’
Smaill’s poems have been widely published in Sport, Landfall and the NZ Listener. Her poems have been selected for Best New Zealand Poems in both 2002 and 2005.
Smaill is currently living and studying in London.
Media links and clips
- Anna Smaill on the Best New Zealand Poems 2005 site
- Anna Smaill’s author profile on the Victoria University Press site
- Anna Smaill on the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre site
