Fiona Kidman
Novelist, short story writer, poet, teacher
1940—
This town of ours kind of flattened
across the creases
of an imaginary map
a touch of parchment surrealism here
no wonder the lights
are wavering
all over the place
tonight
not a straight town at all.
From 'Speaking with my Grandmothers' in Writing Wellington, ed. Roger Robinson, Victoria University Press, 1999
Where to find it
On the sand at Freyberg Beach
- Uneven path
About the author
Fiona Kidman began her working life as a librarian, moving into freelance journalism in the 1960s, when she also published her first short stories.
In 1970 she came to Wellington, where she worked in radio, television, film and theatre as a writer, and as a radio producer. At the same time she began writing novels; her first, A Breed of Women, being published in 1979 to critical acclaim.
She was made Dame Commander of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1998 for her services to literature, and in 2009 the French Government awarded her the Chevalier (knighthood) de l’Orde des Arts et des Lettres and the Légion d’honneur.
With thanks to Southern Trust and Wellington City Council
