Gina Cole
Gina Cole MNZM | |
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![]() Cole in 2023 | |
Born | 1960 (age 63–64) |
Occupation |
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Education |
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Genre | Indigenous science fiction |
Gina Annette Cole
Background and education
Cole was born in 1960.[1][2] She is of Fijian, Scottish and Welsh descent.[3] From 1963 to 1966, she and her family lived on Farewell Spit, where her father was the lighthouse keeper.[4] As of 2022[update], she lives in Auckland.[3] She studied law at the University of Auckland and was admitted to the bar in 1991. She practiced as a barrister until 2018, when she closed her practice to focus on her writing.[1][5]
In 2013, Cole obtained a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Auckland,[5][6] and in 2020 she earned a PhD in Creative Writing from Massey University on the topic of indigenous science fiction.[7][8][9] She has said that as "an Indigenous Fijian queer woman writer I feel it is so important that we Indigenous peoples tell our own stories so that we can put forward our perspective and experience".[10] In 2014, she won a writing contest at the Auckland Pride Festival run by Express magazine with her poem "Airport Aubade".[1][11]
Writing career
In 2017, Cole's short story collection Black Ice Matter received the award for best first book of fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.[3][12] A review by Stuff said that the collection "would be a good book on any reckoning but as a first book it is simply outstanding"; it "shows an assurance of tone, a clarity of style and expression, and an ability to handle different voices, that would be the envy of most more experienced authors".[13] She also had an essay published in the collection New Writing edited by Thom Conroy,[14] and a short story published in Black Marks on the White Page edited by Witi Ihimaera and Tina Makereti.[15]
In 2018, she attended the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.[1] In 2021, she was a writer-in-residence at the Michael King Writers Centre through a residency for established Pasifika writers,[7] was the first Pasifika curator at the Auckland Writers Festival,[1] and had work published in the anthology Out Here: An Anthology of Takatapui and LGBTQIA+ Writers from Aotearoa New Zealand edited by Chris Tse and Emma Barnes.[16]
In July 2022, Cole's first novel Na Viro was published. It is a science fiction novel set in the distant future and featuring Pacific culture.[3] In the week before 15 July 2022, it was the second-best selling fiction book in New Zealand.[17] A review in the New Zealand Listener described it as an "ambitious book", "at the forefront of a new and particularly interesting genre", but noted that the book was challenging to read in some respects.[18] A review in Landfall concluded that Na Viro is "an important and enjoyable pioneering story that not only brings a uniquely Pasifika voice to the genre but also uses its inter-galactic plot to celebrate the traditions and challenges of the Pacific".[19]
Cole received the inaugural International Residency with Australia, a partnership between the Michael King Writers Centre and Varuna, The Writers' House. The award involved a month's residency at Varuna, to be taken up in October 2022, and an appearance at the Blue Mountains Writers' Festival.[20] In 2022 she had a story published in the First Peoples Shared Stories anthology, and gave the annual Peter Wells lecture at the Same Same But Different literary festival.[1]
In the
Selected works
- Black Ice Matter (Huia Publishers, 2016)
- Na Viro (Huia Publishers, 2022)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Gina Cole". Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ "Black ice matter / Gina Cole". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Pasifika Sci-fi fantasy writer Gina Cole". Radio New Zealand. 6 July 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ProQuest 274541198. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
- ^ a b "Law alumna scores inaugural writers' residency". University of Auckland. 14 June 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
- ^ Rodger, Victor. "Pacific Writing in New Zealand: The Niu Wave". Academy of New Zealand Literature. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ a b Tania (23 March 2021). "Gina Cole: 2021 Established Pasifika Writers Residency". Michael King Writers Centre. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ "My Doctoral Story: Gina Cole". Massey University. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
- hdl:10179/16334.
- ^ Lopesi, Lana (27 May 2022). "How does creativity help strengthen Pacific wellbeing and identities?". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ Rumbles, Andrew (26 February 2014). "Literary lesbian emerges victorious". Express. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
- ^ "Ockham NZ Book Awards: Catherine Chidgey, Victoria University Press the big winners". Stuff.co.nz. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ Reid, Nicholas (28 September 2016). "Review: Black Ice Matter, Gina Cole". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ Heritage, Elizabeth (23 July 2017). "Book review: Home: New Writing edited by Thom Conroy". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ISBN 9780143770305.
- ^ "Out Here: An Anthology of Takatapui and LGBTQIA+ Writers from Aotearoa New Zealand". Vic Books. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ Braunias, Steve (15 July 2022). "This week's best-selling books". Newsroom. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
- ^ Cottrell, Jack Remiel (30 July 2022). "Out of this world". New Zealand Listener. p. 51.
- ^ Blundell, Sally (1 November 2022). "Plotting Pasifikafuturism". Landfall Review Online. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ "Exporting Cole". The Big Idea. 2 June 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ "New Year honours list 2023". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- ^ "Gina Cole awarded 2023 Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer's Residency". Creative New Zealand. 13 June 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
External links
- Profile at Read NZ Te Pou Muramura
- Short story: Sunset on Mars, by Gina Cole on Newsroom
- Circling Back, article by Cole about her life on The Pantograph Punch, 8 July 2021
- "How I write: Gina Cole", article for Stuff, 26 October 2022