Sarah Myles
Sarah Myles (1976-) is a Wellington-born creative non-fiction author. Since 2007 she has been based in Napier, New Zealand, with her husband and two children.
Myles went to Sacred Heart College in Lower Hutt, and in 1993 she took part in an AFS student exchange to France. After this, she completed her Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Psychology and Criminology, at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington.
After graduating, Myles started her career in business and banking. She then travelled to the United States, France and Scotland. Upon her return to Aotearoa, she obtained a Graduate Diploma in Adult Learning and Teaching (ESOL) from Massey University where she then worked as a tutor. More recently, she has been self-employed in financial accounting and copywriting.
In 2019, Myles published her debut work, Towards the Mountain: A Story of Grief and Hope Forty Years on From Erebus (Allen & Unwin).
In Towards the Mountain, Myles uses interviews and extensive research to detail how and why 257 people were killed following the crash of an Air New Zealand sightseeing flight in Antarctica. Myles’ grandfather, Frank Christmas, was one of the victims. Towards the Mountain details his journey back to New Zealand, and explores the grief and shared trauma felt by the many families and recovery staff, and also their stories of connection, forgiveness and endurance.
The book has been critically acclaimed as a reflection on the legacy of grief and tragedy, and finding hope forty years on from New Zealand’s biggest disaster.
Towards the Mountain received an Honourable Mention in the 2017 Lilian Ida Smith Award.
A year later, in 2018 Myles was the recipient of a NZSA / Creative NZ Mentorship Programme which enabled her to research and write Towards the Mountain fulltime.
In 2020, Myles was a finalist in the Ockham NZ Book Awards, General Non-Fiction category.
Myles continues to write, and has recently commenced her second project, a fictional novel set in Otago.
LINKS
Sarah's 2019 interview on RNZ's Saturday Morning programme
Towards the Mountain at Allen & Unwin
Erebus day: A granddaughter drawn towards the mountain, Newsroom
