Mandy Hager Explained

Mandy Hager
Birth Date:26 July 1960
Birth Place:Levin, New Zealand
Occupation:Writer
Nationality:New Zealand
Education:MA in creative writing from Victoria University of Wellington
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Children:2
Relatives:Nicky Hager

Amanda Hager (born 26 July 1960) is a writer of fiction and non-fiction for children, young adults and adults. Many of her books have been shortlisted for or won awards, including Singing Home the Whale which won both the Young Adult fiction category and the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2015. She has been the recipient of several fellowships, residencies and prizes, including the Beatson Fellowship in 2012, the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship in 2014, the Waikato University Writer in Residence in 2015 and the Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award in 2019.

Biography

Hager was born in Levin on 26 July 1960.[1] [2] Her father, Kurt, was born in Vienna[3] and her mother, Barbara, in Zanzibar.[4] She is the third of four children who grew up in a household where books, reading and writing were encouraged and valued.[5] She has said she and her siblings were all raised with a strong sense of social justice.[6]

Hager has worked as a primary teacher, teacher of people with learning difficulties, youth education officer, research assistant, research and resource writer and creative writing tutor. She has a Teaching Diploma (Wellington College of Education), an Advanced Diploma in Applied Arts (Whitireia New Zealand) and an MA in creative writing from Victoria University of Wellington.[7] [8]

Her first published book, Tom's Story, was written after the death of her first husband in a boating accident, when she was trying to find picture books that would help her own children understand the nature of death and the emotions they were feeling.[9] Since then, her books have often tackled difficult subjects such as grief, anger, violence, physical and emotional abuse, suicide and self-harm, racism, sexism, bullying and environmental issues.

She writes predominately for young adults, although a shift in 2017 saw her publish Heloise (Penguin NZ), a historical novel based on the life of 12th century nun Heloise d'Argenteuil, famed lover of philosopher Peter Abelard. In 2015 her book Singing Home The Whale (Random House NZ)[10] won the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year and the Young Adult Fiction Category[11] in the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults,[12] as well as a Storylines Notable Book Award[13] and was a finalist in the LIANZA Book Awards.[14] Her Blood of the Lamb trilogy has been published in the US by Pyr Books.[15]

She also writes adult fiction, short stories, non-fiction, educational resources, blogs and articles. She has had work published in various journals including Fresh, Broadsheet and the 4th floor Literary Journal,[16] and has written many educational resources for Learning Media and other publishers. Her work as a resource writer for the Global Education Centre dealt with topics such as "Weather Wars – The Politics of Climate Change, Parihaka and the gift of non-violent resistance", "Healing the World – Back to the Future", "Get Up! Stand Up! Music For Change", "Take Action, Money Matters", "Who Are You: the search for self in the Global Village?", "Cook Me Some Eggs, Woman! (Violence Against Women)" and "Slaves to Fashion: the threads that bind us".

She has run many creative writing workshops,[17] is a frequent visitor to schools [18] and has appeared at numerous literary festivals, including the National Writers Forum, the Auckland Writers Festival[19] and Verb Wellington.[20]

Hager worked for ten years as a tutor and mentor on the Creative Writing Programme at Whitireia New Zealand[21] until the Novel Writing course she taught was disestablished.[22]

She is married with two children and two grandchildren, and lives on the Kāpiti Coast.[23] She is a sister to Nicky Hager, a prominent investigative writer and journalist.

Awards and prizes

Many of Mandy Hager’s books have been shortlisted for or won awards. She has won the LIANZA Book Award for Young Adult fiction three times, the New Zealand Post Book Award for Young Adult fiction, an Honour award in the Aim Children's Book Awards, Word Weavers Excellence Award (2002), Golden Wings Award (2003) and five Storylines Notable Book Awards.[24]

Tom’s Story received an Honour Award in the Picture Book category of the 1996 AIM Children’s Book Awards.[25] Juno Lucina received a Golden Wings Excellence Award in 2002 and Run for the Trees received a Golden Wings Award in 2003.

Smashed won the Esther Glen Award in the 2008 LIANZA Book Awards[26] . The Crossing won the Young Adult Fiction category of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards in 2010.[27] [28]

Into the Wilderness was nominated for the Best Young Adult novel in the Sir Julius Vogel Awards in 2011.[29]

The Nature of Ash won the Young Adult fiction section of the LIANZA Book Awards in 2013[30] and Dear Vincent won the same section in the LIANZA Book Awards in 2014. Singing Home the Whale won both the Young Adult fiction category and the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2015, as well as an IBBY Honour Book in 2016[31] [32] .

Heloise spent several weeks on the bestseller list[33] and was longlisted for the 2018 Ockham Book Awards.[34] [35]

She has been the recipient of a number of awards and residencies, including the Beatson Fellowship in 2012,[36] [37] the University of Waikato Writer in Residence in 2015[38] [39] and the D’Arcy Writer’s Grant in 2017[40] [41] .

On 7 November 2013, it was announced that Hager had been awarded the 2013 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship.[42] [43] [44] [45] The prize provides for a NZD$75,000 award and the opportunity to take up residency for at least six months in Menton, a port town on the French Riviera and is one of New Zealand's most long-standing and prestigious literary awards.[46]

In 2019, Hager also received the Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award, which acknowledges lifetime achievement and a distinguished contribution to New Zealand’s literature for young people.[47] She delivered her lecture, titled “Channelling our greater good", on 31 March 2019.[48]

Bibliography 

Children’s and YA fiction

Children’s non-fiction

Adult fiction

Educational publications

Film scripts

Global Education Centre

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Interview with Mandy Hager. 2002. Christchurch City Libraries: Nga Kete Wananga-o-Otautahi. 6 October 2019.
  2. http://backyardbooks.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/introducing-mandy-hager/ Mandy Hager
  3. Web site: Interview with Mandy Hager. 12 June 2013. My Best Friends are Books. 6 October 2019.
  4. Web site: Detailed biography. Hager. Mandy. Mandy Hager – writer. 6 October 2019.
  5. Web site: Hager, Mandy. January 2017. Read NZ: Te Pou Muramura. 6 October 2019.
  6. Web site: Mandy Hager: tackling the big issues. Lancashire. Rebecca. 7 November 2013. New Zealand Listener. 6 October 2019.
  7. Web site: Mandy Hager. 2018. National Writers Forum. 6 October 2019.
  8. Web site: Mandy Hager. Storylines. 6 October 2019.
  9. Web site: The Reckoning: an argument for inclusiveness. Hager. Mandy. 13 April 2017. The Sapling. 6 October 2019.
  10. Web site: Singing Home the Whale by Mandy Hager – Books – Random House Books New Zealand. [www.randomhouse.co.nz]. Random House Books New Zealand. Random House New Zealand. 6 October 2015.
  11. Web site: A whale of a tale. Stuff. 6 October 2015.
  12. Web site: About the Awards Booksellers New Zealand. booksellers.co.nz. 6 October 2015.
  13. Web site: Notable Books List 2015. www.storylines.org.nz. 6 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151006122737/http://www.storylines.org.nz/Awards/Notable+Books+Awards/Notable+Books+List+2015.html. 6 October 2015. dead.
  14. Web site: The LIANZA Children's Book Awards 2015 Finalists LIANZA. www.lianza.org.nz. 6 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20160122120815/http://www.lianza.org.nz/article/lianza-childrens-book-awards-2015-finalists. 22 January 2016. dead.
  15. Web site: Pyr Science Fiction + Fantasy. www.pyrsf.com. 6 October 2015.
  16. Web site: The Thrill of the Chase. Hager. Mandy. 2015. 4th Floor Literary Journal.
  17. Web site: Off the Page: Novel Writing with Mandy Hager. 2018. Palmerston North City Library. 6 October 2019.
  18. Web site: Mandy Hager shares her creative process. Loulie-Wijtenburg. Danica. Sancta Maria College. 6 October 2019.
  19. Web site: Schools Program. 2017. Auckland Writers Festival. 6 October 2019.
  20. Web site: Mandy Hager. Verb Wellington. 6 October 2019.
  21. Web site: Mandy Hager. www.whitireia.ac.nz. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20151006140703/http://www.whitireia.ac.nz/Staff_Profiles/Pages/MandyHager.aspx. 6 October 2015. 6 October 2015.
  22. Web site: Mandy Hager’s Brickbat For Bureaucrats. Hager. Mandy. 23 May 2019. Kapiti and Coast Independent. 6 October 2019.
  23. Web site: Mandy Hager. Penguin Books. 6 October 2019.
  24. Web site: Storylines Notable Books Awards. Storylines. 7 October 2019.
  25. Web site: AIM Children’s Book Awards – Kids – Christchurch City Libraries. christchurchcitylibraries.com. 6 October 2015.
  26. Web site: LIANZA Esther Glen Junior Fiction Award. Christchurch City Libraries. 7 October 2019.
  27. Web site: Mandy Hager. 27 May 2010. RNZ. 6 October 2019.
  28. Web site: The Crossing by Mandy Hager – Books – Random House Books New Zealand. [www.randomhouse.co.nz]. Random House Books New Zealand. Random House New Zealand. 6 October 2015.
  29. Web site: Sir Julius Vogel Award Nominations – 2011. SFFANZ. 6 October 2019.
  30. Web site: LIANZA Young Adult Award. Christchurch City Libraries. 7 October 2019.
  31. Web site: Singing Home the Whale top book. 13 August 2015. RNZ. 6 October 2019.
  32. Web site: Ibby Honour List: 2016. IBBY: International Board on Books for Young People. 6 October 2019.
  33. Web site: Nielsen Weekly Bestsellers for the week ending 30 December. 5 January 2018. Booksellers NZ. 7 October 2019.
  34. Web site: 2018 Awards. NZ Book Awards Trust. 6 October 2019.
  35. Web site: Announcing the longlist for the 2018 Ockham New Zealand national book awards: all the finalists, and some passing remarks. Braunias. Steve. 28 November 2017. The Spinoff. 6 October 2019.
  36. Web site: NZSA Peter & Dianne Beatson Fellowship. NZSA The New Zealand Society of Authors (Pen NZ Inc) Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa. 6 October 2019.
  37. Web site: Hager wins 2013 NZ Beatson Fellowship. 27 November 2012. Books + Publishing. 7 October 2019.
  38. Web site: Writer in Residence. The University of Waikato: Te Whare Wananga o Waikato. 6 October 2019.
  39. Web site: Hager named Waikato University’s 2015 writer in residence. Grant. Nick. 16 December 2014. The National Business Review. 6 October 2019.
  40. Web site: For the love of arts: The politics of art and arts education. Hager. Mandy. 12 August 2017. North & South. 6 October 2019.
  41. Web site: D’Arcy Writers’ Grants for 2017. Beattie. Graham. 9 December 2016. Beattie's Book Blog. 6 October 2019.
  42. Web site: Mandy Hager wins Mansfield Fellowship. 7 November 2013. Fairfax Media. 9 November 2013.
  43. Web site: Mandy Hager awarded Katherine Mansfield Fellowship. 8 November 2013. RNZ. 6 October 2019.
  44. Web site: Young adult author Mandy Hager gains 2014 Menton Fellowship. 8 November 2013. Whitireia New Zealand. 6 October 2019.
  45. Web site: Mandy Hager on her Menton experience. 17 October 2014. The Big Idea. 6 October 2019.
  46. Web site: Katherine Mansfield – Menton Fellowship – Literary Award. mansfieldfellowship.org. 6 October 2015.
  47. Web site: Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award. Storylines. 6 October 2019.
  48. Web site: Storylines Margaret Mahy Lecture 2019. 31 March 2019. Storylines. 6 October 2019.
  49. Web site: Smashed by Mandy Hager. Random House Books New Zealand. 8 December 2014.
  50. Web site: The Crossing. 24 October 2012. Kirkus Reviews. 6 October 2019.
  51. Web site: Dear Vincent by Mandy Hager – Books – Random House Books New Zealand. [www.randomhouse.co.nz]. Random House Books New Zealand. Random House New Zealand. 6 October 2015.
  52. Web site: Vintage read: Heloise by Mandy Hager. Pope. Rachel. 3 July 2017. Stuff. 6 October 2019.
  53. Web site: Heloise by Mandy Hager – book review. Else. Anne. 1 July 2017. New Zealand Listener. 6 October 2019.
  54. Web site: Heloise: Mandy Hager. Penguin Books. 7 October 2019.
  55. Web site: New Zealand catalogue. Essential Resources. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20071028044810/http://www.essentialresources.co.nz/subproducts.cfm. 28 October 2007. 7 October 2019.

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