Fiona Farrell


Fiona Farrell is a New Zealand poet, fiction writer and playwright.

Early years and education

Fiona Farrell was raised on a farm in Oamaru, in the South Island of New Zealand. Her father was Irish Catholic and her mother was a Scottish Presbyterian. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Otago in 1968. Farrell moved to Oxford in the United Kingdom with her husband after graduating and was enrolled at the University of London in Art History. Her and her husband then moved to Canada where Farrell completed Masters of Philosophy in Drama at Toronto University. She worked as a drama lecturer at the Palmerston North Teachers' College and lived in Palmerston North from 1976 to 1991 and her first written works were plays.

Career

Farrell has held numerous residencies and been recognised for her writing in many ways including at the New Zealand Book Awards where she has been a finalist in all three categories, for fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her latest novel, Decline and Fall on Savage Street, was published in May 2017. The Broken Book, was published by Auckland University Press 2011. She used to live and write at Otanerito on Banks Peninsula with her partner Doug Hood, and until April 2017, their Otanerito Beach House was a stop over point at the Banks Peninsula Track. Farrell is now based in Dunedin.

Awards and honours

She has won several awards for short fiction, including the Bank of New Zealand Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award and the American Express Award.