Eleanor Catton
Encyclopedia
Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand
author best known for her 2007 debut novel
, The Rehearsal
. The book deals with reactions to an affair between a male teacher and Victoria, a girl at his secondary school, as well as the more muted response to the death of another pupil. A drama school student, who participates in creating and staging a production based on the affair, develops a relationship with Victoria's younger sister, Isolde. An independent saxophone teacher, through her conversations with girls from the school, including Isolde, and their mothers, discovers elements of the story, casts her quirky eye over them. It has a strong focus on relationships and the inner world of characters.
Catton was born in Canada while her father, a New Zealand graduate, was completing a doctorate at the University of Western Ontario
. She lived in Yorkshire until the age of 13, before her family settled in Canterbury, New Zealand. She attended Burnside High School, studied English at Canterbury University, and completed a Master's in Creative Writing at The Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington. She wrote the novel as her Master's Thesis.
She was described in 2009 as "this year's golden girl of fiction".
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
author best known for her 2007 debut novel
Debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...
, The Rehearsal
The Rehearsal (novel)
The Rehearsal is the debut novel by Eleanor Catton. It was released by Victoria University Press in New Zealand in 2008. The Rehearsal was later bought by Granta Books in the UK and released there in July 2009.-Plot summary:...
. The book deals with reactions to an affair between a male teacher and Victoria, a girl at his secondary school, as well as the more muted response to the death of another pupil. A drama school student, who participates in creating and staging a production based on the affair, develops a relationship with Victoria's younger sister, Isolde. An independent saxophone teacher, through her conversations with girls from the school, including Isolde, and their mothers, discovers elements of the story, casts her quirky eye over them. It has a strong focus on relationships and the inner world of characters.
Catton was born in Canada while her father, a New Zealand graduate, was completing a doctorate at the University of Western Ontario
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...
. She lived in Yorkshire until the age of 13, before her family settled in Canterbury, New Zealand. She attended Burnside High School, studied English at Canterbury University, and completed a Master's in Creative Writing at The Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington. She wrote the novel as her Master's Thesis.
She was described in 2009 as "this year's golden girl of fiction".
Awards
- Adam Award in Creative Writing, 2007, for The Rehearsal
- Sunday Star-Times (NZ) Short Story Competition, 2007, for Necropolis
- Glenn Schaeffer Fellowship at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, 2008
- Louis Johnson New Writers’ Bursary, 2008
- Betty Trask AwardBetty Trask AwardThe Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. The awards were established in 1984 by the Society of Authors, at the bequest of the late Betty Trask, a reclusive author of over thirty romance novels...
, 2009, for The Rehearsal - New Zealand Society of Authors Hubert Church (Montana)Montana New Zealand Book AwardsThe New Zealand Post Book Awards are a series of literary awards to works of New Zealand citizens. They were created in 1996, as a merge of the two previously most relevant awards in New Zealand: the Montana Book Awards and the New Zealand Book Awards...
Best First Book Award for Fiction, 2009, for The Rehearsal - The Guardian first book award (shortlisted), 2009
- Orange Prize (longlisted), 2010
- Amazon.ca's 35th First Novel Award, 2010
Works
- The Rehearsal, a novel, first published Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2008. Published in Germany by Arche Verlag, Hamburg; translated by Barbara Schaden 2010 ISBN 978-3-7160-2632-8
- Short stories published in Best New Zealand Fiction Vol. 5 (2008), Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Short Stories (August 2009), and Granta (106, Summer 2009).
External links
- http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article6675744.ece Sunday Times, July 2009
- http://www.nzetc.org/iiml/turbine/Turbi07/fiction/Catton1.html Excerpts from Eleanor Catton's Reading Journal, 2007