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Fiona Kidman

Fiona Kidman

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Fiona Kidman has published over 30 books, including novels, poetry, non-fiction and a play. She has worked as a librarian, radio producer and critic, and as a scriptwriter for radio, television and film. The New Zealand Listener wrote: ‘In her craft and her storytelling and in her compassionate gutsy tough expression of female experience, she is the best we have.’

She has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships; in more recent years, The Captive Wife was runner-up for the Deutz Medal for Fiction and was joint-winner of the Readers’ Choice Award in the 2006 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, and her short story collection The Trouble with Fire was shortlisted for both the NZ Post Book Awards and the Frank O’Connor Short Story Award. Her novel This Mortal Boy won the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize, the NZ Booklovers Award, the NZSA Heritage Book Award for Fiction and the Ngaio Marsh Crime Writing Award for Best Novel.

She was created a Dame (DNZM) in 1998 in recognition of her contribution to literature, and more recently a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour. ‘We cannot talk about writing in New Zealand without acknowledging her,’ wrote New Zealand Books. ‘Kidman’s accessible prose and the way she shows (mainly) women grappling to escape from restricting social pressures has guaranteed her a permanent place in our fiction.’

Awards & recognition

DNZM

Awarded  •  1998  •  Dame

More features

Article
That’s love, I reckon: reflections on a lifetime of love

We asked Fiona Kidman, author of All the Way to Summer, to share her thoughts on love for young women of today along with her own personal journey. 

Article
This Mortal Boy wins Ockham New Zealand Book Award

Dame Fiona Kidman has won this year’s $53,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for her novel, This Mortal Boy.

Article
This Mortal Boy - book club guide

Incredible NZ author and Ockham 2019 Award Winner Dame Fiona Kidman shares some thoughts and questions to get the ball rolling in a book club discussion for This Mortal Boy.

Article
Fiona Kidman: 21 questions

Find out how Dame Fiona Kidman’s mind really ticks.

Article
Short story club – 31 May 2018

Read the story being discussed on Jesse Mulligan’s show on Radio New Zealand on 31 May 2018

Article
Short story club – 12 July 2018

Read the story being discussed on Jesse Mulligan’s show on Radio New Zealand on 12 July 2018