Eleanor Catton
Eleanor (Ellie) Catton | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Writer of fiction |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
Eleanor Catton (born 1985) is a New Zealand author best known for her 2007 debut novel, The Rehearsal. The book deals with reactions to an affair between a male teacher and Victoria, a girl at his secondary school, and the more muted response to the death of another pupil. A drama school student, who participates in creating and staging a production based on the affair, develops a relationship with Victoria's younger sister, Isolde. An independent saxophone teacher, through her conversations with girls from the school, including Isolde, and their mothers, discovers elements of the story, casts her quirky eye over them, and adds spice to the tale. The third person narration does not specify the location, not even the country. The story is contemporary. It has a strong focus on relationships and the inner world of characters.
Eleanor Catton was born in Canada while her father, a New Zealand graduate, was completing a doctorate at the University of Western Ontario. She lived in Yorkshire until the age of 13, before her family settled in Canterbury, New Zealand.[1] She attended Burnside High School, studied English at Canterbury University, and completed a Masters in Creative Writing at The Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington. She wrote the novel as her Master's Thesis.[2]
She was described in 2009 as "this year's golden girl of fiction"[3].
Awards
- Amazon.ca's 35th First Novel Award, 2010 [4]
- Adam Award in Creative Writing, 2007, for The Rehearsal[5]
- Sunday Star-Times (NZ) Short Story Competition, 2007, for Necropolis[6]
- Glenn Schaeffer Fellowship at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, 2008[6]
- Louis Johnson New Writers’ Bursary, 2008[6]
- Betty Trask Award, 2009, for The Rehearsal[7]
- New Zealand Society of Authors Hubert Church (Montana) Best First Book Award for Fiction, 2009, for The Rehearsal[8]
Works
- The Rehearsal, a novel, first published Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2008. Published in Germany by Arche Verlag, Hamburg; translated by Barbara Schaden 2010 ISBN 978-3-7160-2632-8
- Short stories published in Best New Zealand Fiction Vol. 5 (2008), Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Short Stories (August 2009), and Granta (106, Summer 2009).
External links
References
- ^ A New Line on the Fading Age of Innocence, Sunday Herald feature, 18 July 2009.
- ^ [1] Bookmunch Interview, April 2009
- ^ The Rehearsal Daily Mail 21-July-2009
- ^ [2] Amazon.ca: First Novel Award Books, April 2011
- ^ Adam Award Winners
- ^ a b c [3] Contributor information from Granta magazine
- ^ Betty Trask Award Winners
- ^ NZ Society of Authors Awards