Carl Nixon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nixon, Carl (1967 - ) writes plays, short fiction and novels. His theatrical works are largely comedies, and humour is an important element of his more serious - even dark - short fiction. He works full-time as a writer.

Born in Christchurch, Nixon graduated with a Masters degree in Religious Studies from Canterbury University. He briefly taught secondary school English before leaving to teach in Japan for two years.

Nixon has won and been shortlisted for numerous awards for his short fiction. He has twice won the Sunday Star Times Short Story Competition, for 'My Father Running with a Dead Boy' in 1997 and 'Weight' in 1999. He was a runner up in the Bank of New Zealand Katherine Mansfield Short Story Competition in 1999 and won the premier prize in 2007.

His first collection of short stories, the best-selling Fish 'n' Chip Shop Song (Random, 2006), was short-listed in the Best First Book Southeast Asia and South Pacific Region category in the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2007.

In 2006 Nixon was the Ursula Bethell/Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence at Canterbury University where he completed his first novel, Rocking Horse Road. Reviewing Rocking Horse Road in North and South magazine in August 2007, Warwick Roger said that 'Nixon writes beautifully. He gets the style and timbre of teenagers just right...Nixon has fulfilled the promise he showed with last year's book of short stories, Fish 'n' Chip Shop Song.'

Nixon's theatrical scripts include an adaption of Lloyd Jones' novel The Book of Fame and of Nobel Prize winner JM Coetzee's Disgrace. Nixon's play, The Raft, was performed as part of the 2007 Christchurch Arts Festival. He has written numerous plays for children, and his works include The Little Mermaid (2000), The Reluctant Dragon (2000), and Beauty and the Beast (2000). He has also published a novel for young adults, Guardians of Mother Earth (1997).

His play The Birthday Boy had its premier season at the Court Theatre in 2008. A comedy about the joys and perils of parenthood.

Rocking Horse Road, published by Random House NZ in 2007, was long listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2009.

Settlers’ Creek was published by Random House NZ in 2010. It was long listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2012.

Nixon lives in Christchurch.

MEDIA LINKS AND CLIPS

• Carl Nixon's website
• Playmarket profile
• Carl Nixon on the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre site
• NZ Listener article on Carl Nixon (July 2007)
• Carl Nixon on Radio NZ