Elizabeth Fiona KnoxCNZM (born 15 February 1959) is a New Zealand writer. She has authored several novels for both adults and teenagers, autobiographical novellas, and a collection of essays. One of her best-known works isThe Vintner's Luck (1998), which won several awards, has been published in ten languages,[1] and was made intoa film of the same name byNiki Caro in 2009. Knox is also known for her young adult literary fantasy series,Dreamhunter Duet. Her most recent novels areMortal Fire andWake, both published in 2013, andThe Absolute Book, published in 2019.
Knox was born inWellington, New Zealand. She and her two sisters were raised by atheist parents in a household where religion was often debated.[2] They spent their childhood living in various small suburbs of Wellington, includingPomare,Wadestown,Waikanae andParemata.[1] She went to high school atTawa College,[1] and later published a trilogy of novellas that were influenced by her childhood experiences of living in and aroundWellington.[3][4]
Knox enjoyed inventing stories as a child, and was an avid reader,[5] but had difficulties with writing because she was slightly dyslexic.[2] When she was eleven she created an oralnarrative history with her younger sister Sara and its characters and plot evolved based on their input along with the input of their older sister, Mary, and their friend, Carol.[6] It became an elaborate imaginary world with many characters, intricate plot lines, and involvements. When she was sixteen, Knox's father overheard a discussion between her, her sisters, and Carol regarding the consequences of a secret treaty set in their imaginary world and remarked that he hoped they were writing this down.[1] Following this, they all tried "writing stories about, letters between, and poems by their characters"[6] and Knox enjoyed it so much that she decided she would like to be a writer.[7]
In 1983, when Knox was 24, she started a degree in English Literature atVictoria University of Wellington. A year later, she started work onAfter Z-Hour inBill Manhire's Original Composition course at Victoria.[1] The novel is about the ghost of aWorld War I soldier, and it was inspired by a childhood memory; at age eleven Knox fell from a walnut tree onAnzac Day, and while in the hospital she overheard a conversation between an older man and her father aboutPasschendaele and life on the Salient in 1917.[8] Bill Manhire encouraged her to write her novel, and told her he would be more interested in seeing her complete it, than her degree.After Z-Hour was published in 1987 byVictoria University Press,[9] and Knox graduated from Victoria University of Wellington the same year. She was also awarded the ICI Young Writers Bursary award that year.[1]
Her second and third novels,Treasure (1992)[11] andGlamour and the Sea (1996),[12] were both set in Wellington; the former was about a religious community while the latter was a mystery novel set in the 1940s.[3] Alongside these novels, Knox also wrote a trilogy of novellas based on her own experiences growing up in Wellington:Paremata (1989),Pomare (1994), andTawa (1998),[3] later published in the compilationThe High Jump: A New Zealand Childhood (2000).[4] She was the recipient of the Victoria University of Wellington Writing Fellowship in 1997.[3][13]
Knox's fourth full-length novel,The Vintner's Luck, was published in 1998,[14] and was her first book to be published outside New Zealand.[15] It chronicles the life of a peasant winemaker, Sobran Jodeau, and his relationship with the fallen angel Xas. The novel is set in 19th-centuryBurgundy, France, and spans 55 years. It was inspired by a feverish dream experienced by Knox when she had pneumonia.[2]The Vintner's Luck won Knox widespread critical acclaim and numerous awards, and it raised her profile within New Zealand and overseas.[3] It sold over 60,000 copies in New Zealand alone and in 2018, readers ofThe Spinoff voted it as the best New Zealand novel of the last 50 years.[16]
After the success ofThe Vintner's Luck, and spending part of 1999 inMenton, France as the recipient of theMeridian Energy Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship,[17] three novels by Knox were published in quick succession:Black Oxen (2001),[18][19]Billie's Kiss (2002),[20][21] andDaylight (2003).[22][23]Daylight, a novel about vampires created by a virus, received praise from reviewers and did well overseas.[24] Academic Erin Mercer notes that the novel reflects international Gothic and supernatural literary traditions as well as New Zealand fiction's more realistic approach.[24]
Knox's first young adult books,Dreamhunter andDreamquake, were published in 2005 and 2007 respectively, as theDreamhunter Duet series.[26][27] Jolisa Gracewood, reviewingDreamquake, described the book as a "Mansfield-meets-Mahy fantasy" and praised Knox for her audacious imagination and ingeniously constructed tales.[28] In 2008, she published a collection of non-fiction,The Love School: Personal Essays, which was shortlisted in the 2009Montana New Zealand Book Awards.[29] Since 2013 a quotation fromThe Love School has been featured on a concrete plaque forming part of theWellington Writers Walk, a series of quotations installed along the Wellington waterfront.[30]
In 2009 thefilm adaptation ofThe Vintner's Luck directed and co-written byNiki Caro was released. The film was almost universally panned at the34th Annual Toronto International Film Festival.[31] Knox was disappointed at the direction the movie took as she felt Caro "took out what the book was actually about", referring to the romantic relationship between Sobran and Xas which was a core aspect of the novel.[32] Her sister Sara, who is gay, was also upset about the film version.[33] Knox's bad experience with the film made her pull out of a potential film contract with New Zealand filmmakerJonathan King for her young adult fantasy series,The Dreamhunter Duet.[2][34]
That same year, Knox publishedThe Angel's Cut,[35] a sequel toThe Vintner's Luck. The story follows the tale of Xas after the events of the first book and is set in 1930s Hollywood. At the time she said that she was intending to write a third book in the series,The Angel's Reserve, set in contemporary times, but as of 2020 it has not yet been published.[2][36]
In 2013,Mortal Fire was published,[37] a young adult novel described byPaula Green as "a modern fairy story without fairies, full of breathtaking magic and visual detail",[38] andWake,[39] a horror novel for adults.The Guardian said in its review: "Knox keeps the monster off stage and examines the psychological consequences of its depredations on the survivors, subverting the norms of the horror genre and thus making the ambiguous finale all the more startling."[40] The publication of both books in the same year caused some confusion, with New Zealand bookstoreWhitcoulls inadvertently shelvingWake in the children's section and listing it as a "great gift for kids".[41]
Since 2016, Knox has taught a world-building writing workshop at Victoria University.[5]
In 2019,The Absolute Book was published,[42] a fantasy novel that won critical acclaim both in New Zealand and overseas.[43] The book attracted particular attention after a January 2020 book review bySlate writer Dan Kois headlined "This New Zealand Fantasy Masterpiece Needs to Be Published in America, Like, Now".[44] The book was subsequently acquired by overseas publishers. It was published in the US and Canada in February 2021,[45][46][47] and in the UK in March 2021.[48]Kirkus Reviews wrote: "This darkly luminous fantasy reads like a mystery, thoroughly and wonderfully transporting readers to another world."[49]The Times described the novel as "bursting with imagination" and "a bewitching, frustrating, strange and perverse novel".[50]Nina Allan, reviewing the novel forThe Guardian, said it "has the feel of an instant classic" and "is everything fantasy should be: original, magical, well read". She praised the diverse characters and the book's "genuine feeling of jeopardy".[51] It was listed as one of the best science fiction and fantasy books of 2021 byThe New York Times.[52]
As of 2020 Knox lives inWellington and is married toFergus Barrowman, a publisher atVictoria University Press. They have a son, Jack Barrowman.[5] Barrowman and Knox met when he was involved in publishing her first book,After Z-Hour (1987).[73]
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