
Image by Mike Brooke
Paula Morris (Ngati Wai, Ngati Whatua) is an award-winning novelist, short story writer and essayist from New Zealand.
She writes fiction for adults and supernatural mysteries for younger readers. Paula’s short stories are widely published in journals, magazines and anthologies, and a number have been adapted for radio in both New Zealand and the US.
A frequent book reviewer, interviewer and festival chair, Paula holds degrees from universities in New Zealand, the U.K. and the US, including a D.Phil from the University of York and an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
She has been awarded numerous residencies and fellowships, including Bellagio (the Rockefeller Foundation) in Italy, Brecht’s House in Denmark, Passa Porta in Belgium, and the International Writers and Translators’ House in Ventspils, Latvia. She has appeared at festivals in Europe, the US, China, the UK and New Zealand.
For ten years, Paula worked in London and New York, first as a publicist and marketing executive in the record business, and later as a branding consultant and advertising copywriter. Since 2003 she’s taught creative writing at universities, including Tulane University in New Orleans, and the University of Sheffield in England. She is convenor of the Master in Creative Writing programme at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.
Awards
Shortlisted
2015 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award in the UK
(False River)
Winner
2012 New Zealand Post Book Awards, Fiction category
(Rangatira)
Winner
2012 Nga Kupu Ora Maori Book Awards in New Zealand, Fiction category
(Rangatira)
Regional Finalist
2009 Commonwealth Prize
(Forbidden Cities)
Winner
2003 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, Best First Fiction Book
(Queen of Beauty)
Winner
2001 Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing
(Queen of Beauty)
More information about Paula
The New Zealand Book Council
Academy of New Zealand Literature
Paula’s Wikipedia page
Paula’s blog is Trendy But Casual
Bibliography
Fiction
Rangatira (2011)
Forbidden Cities (short stories, 2008)
Trendy But Casual (2007)
Hibiscus Coast (2005)
Queen of Beauty (2002)
Young Adult Fiction
The Eternal City (2015)
Hene and the Burning Harbour (2013)
Unbroken (2013)
Dark Souls (2011)
Ruined (2009)
Non-Fiction
On Coming Home (2015)
The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Short Stories (2008, editor)