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Kirsten McDougall

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Kirsten McDougall
Born1974 (age 49–50)
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • creative writing lecturer
EducationMA (creative writing), Victoria University of Wellington (2004)
Notable worksShe's a Killer (2021)

Kirsten McDougall (born 1974) is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer and creative writing lecturer. She has published three novels, and won the 2021 Sunday Star-Times short story competition.

Career

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McDougall was born in 1974, and grew up in Wellington and Masterton.[1] She obtained a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington in 2004.[2] She teaches a long-form fiction course at Victoria,[3] and until February 2022 she was the publicity manager at Te Herenga Waka University Press.[2][4]

Her first book, The Invisible Rider, was a short-story collection published in 2012. The New Zealand Listener selected it as one of the top fiction books of the year.[2] It was followed by the novel Tess in 2017, which was longlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Awards.[2] Her work has also been published in magazines and anthologies, including Monsters in the Garden: an anthology of Aotearoa New Zealand science fiction and fantasy (2020), Landfall and Sport.[2] In 2011 she won a Unity Books short story competition with "Clean Hands Save Lives", which was published in a special edition of Sport.[1][5][6][7] In 2013 she received the Creative New Zealand Louis Johnson New Writer's Bursary, and in 2019 she received a Michael King Writers Centre residency.[2]

Her third book, She's a Killer, was published in 2021. It is a thriller set in a future New Zealand which has become a haven for wealthy refugees ("wealthugees") from climate change. Reviewer Caroline Barron for Stuff said it "demonstrates an advanced tightness of prose, plot, tension and pacing that flings the reader forward, proving McDougall to be a dextrous and talented writer who has really hit her stride".[8] It was included on Stuff's list of "the best of the bestsellers" in December 2021,[9] and was shortlisted for the 2022 Ngaio Marsh Awards.[10] Philip Matthews called it a "lively, engaging and often hilarious satirical novel", and praised McDougall's creation of a believable dystopian Wellington, "a world that slips easily between the entirely recognisable and the slightly strange".[11] Kiran Dass for Newsroom said it "feels like a literary action thriller with flashes of confronting realism and perfectly placed comic timing".[12] It was longlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards; it did not make the shortlist, despite reviewer Steve Braunias noting that it was one of "two novels everyone expected to be on it".[13] Also in 2021, she won the Sunday Star-Times short story competition in the open category, with her short story "Walking Day".[8][14]

In January 2023, She's a Killer was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award.[15] Shortly afterwards, it was reported that the novel would be published in the UK by Gallic Books in October 2023.[16] In November 2023 it was included in The Guardian's list of recent best science fiction, fantasy and horror, and described as an "outrageous, comic, disturbingly timely novel".[17] It was given 3/5 by The Telegraph, with the reviewer feeling it was "strenuously written", but praising the pace of the second half of the book and finale.[18]

Personal life

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McDougall is married to musician David Long. As of 2021 they lived in Ōwhiro Bay, Wellington, with their two sons.[19]

Selected works

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  • The Invisible Rider (Victoria University Press, 2012)
  • Tess (Victoria University Press, 2017)
  • She's a Killer (Victoria University Press, 2021)

References

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  1. ^ a b "Kirsten McDougall (Writing for the Page, 2004)". Victoria University of Wellington. International Institute of Modern Letters. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Kirsten McDougall". Academy of New Zealand Literature. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Kirsten McDougall". Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  4. ^ Braunias, Steve (25 February 2022). "This week's best-sellers". Newsroom. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  5. ^ Dass, Kiran (1 July 2013). "Here's Trouble". Landfall Review Online. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  6. ^ "For review: The Long and the Short of It" (PDF). Sport. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  7. ^ The Long and the Short of It: the best stories over 10,000 and under 1000 words. Wellington, New Zealand: Unity Books. 2011. ISBN 9780864737014.
  8. ^ a b Barron, Caroline (17 October 2021). "She's a Killer by Kirsten McDougall". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  9. ^ "The best of the bestsellers: blockbuster books to keep you company on the beach". Stuff. 26 December 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  10. ^ "WORD Christchurch 2022: Crime After Crime and The Ngaio Marsh Awards. Yeah Noir!". Christchurch City Council Libraries. 12 September 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  11. ^ Matthews, Philip. "She's a Killer by Kirsten McDougall". Academy of New Zealand Literature. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  12. ^ Dass, Kiran (28 October 2021). "Book of the Week: She's on fire". Newsroom. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  13. ^ Braunias, Steve (2 March 2022). "Craziest Ockham book awards ever". Newsroom. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  14. ^ Rasmussen, Warwick (24 January 2021). "Writer's 'artistry' lands her top prize in Sunday Star-Times short story competition". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  15. ^ Kemp-Habib, Alice (30 January 2023). "Keegan, Howard and Tóibín make Dublin Literary Award longlist". The Bookseller. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  16. ^ Braunias, Steve (7 February 2023). "Kirsten goes to London". Newsroom. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  17. ^ Tuttle, Lisa (10 November 2023). "The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – reviews roundup". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  18. ^ Scheffer, Pablo (14 October 2023). "A tale of a 15-year-old assassin hunting down super-rich refugees". The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  19. ^ Simpson, Emily (19 December 2021). "The Dirt: Author Kristen McDougall on the power of seaweed and finding 'buried treasure'". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
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