Marilyn Duckworth OBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (born 10 November 1935 in New Zealand) is a novelist, poet and short story writer. She has published sixteen novels, one novella, a collection of short stories and a collection of poetry. She has also written for television and radio.

Early life

Duckworth was born in Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, but spent the years between 1939 and 1947 in England. Her sister is the poet Fleur Adcock

Fleur Adcock

Kareen Fleur Adcock , CNZM, OBE is a poet and an editor of English and Northern Irish ancestry, who has lived much of her life in England.-Life and career:...

. Duckworth’s first novel A Gap in the Spectrum was published when she was twenty-three.

Awards and nominations

• New Zealand Literary Fund Award for Achievement for A Barbarous Tongue (1963)
• New Zealand Book Award:Fiction for Disorderly Conduct (1985)
• Wattie Book of the Year Award (shortlisted) for Disorderly Conduct (1985)
• OBE
  Order of the British Empire
  The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
  
   for services to literature (1987)
• Commonwealth Writers' Prize
  Commonwealth Writers' Prize
  Commonwealth Writers is an initiative by the Commonwealth Foundation to unearth, develop and promote the best new fiction from across the Commonwealth. It's flagship are two literary awards and a website...
  
   (shortlisted) for Leather Wings (1996)

Fellowships and grants

• Literary Fund Scholarship in Letters (1961 and 1972)
• Katherine Mansfield Fellowship, Menton, France (1980)
• Fulbright Visiting Writer's Fellowship, USA (1987)
• Australia New Zealand Writers' Exchange Fellowship (1989)
• Victoria University of Wellington Writer's Fellowship (1990)
• Arts Council NZ Scholarship In Letters (1993)
• Hawthornden Writing fellowship, Scotland (1994)
• Sargeson Writing Fellowship, Auckland (1995)
• Auckland University Literary Fellowship (1996)
• Ucross Foundation Residency, Wyoming USA (1997)
• Millay Arts Centre Residency, New York State USA (2001)

Plays broadcast on radio

• Feet First (Radio New Zealand) (1981)
• Home to Mother (Radio New Zealand) (1976)
• A Gap in the Spectrum (Radio New Zealand) (1972)
• A Barbarous Tongue (Radio New Zealand) (adaptaion of own work for Radio New Zealand) (1973)

Television Scripts

Close to Home scripts (5 for channel one Television New Zealand) (1975–1976)

External links

• List of New Zealand literary figures