Helen Heath
{{short description|New Zealand poet}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Helen Heath
| embed =
| honorific_prefix = Dr
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| image = Helen Heath.jpg
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1970}}
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| language = English
| nationality =
| alma_mater = Victoria University of Wellington
| genre = Poetry
| notableworks = Graft
| awards = NZSA Jessie McKay Best First Book Award for Poetry
| website = [https://www.helenheath.com Official website]
}}
Helen Heath (born 1970) is a poet from New Zealand.
Background
Heath is based in Wellington, New Zealand.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writer/heath-helen/|title=Helen Heath|website=New Zealand Book Council|access-date=26 November 2017}} She received her MA and PhD in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters, at the Victoria University of Wellington.{{Cite web|url=http://www.noted.co.nz/archive/listener-nz-2013/guy-somerset-interviews-poet-helen-heath/|title=Guy Somerset interviews poet Helen Heath - The Listener|last=Somerset|first=Guy|date=18 July 2013|website=Noted|language=en|access-date=26 November 2017|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201035728/http://www.noted.co.nz/archive/listener-nz-2013/guy-somerset-interviews-poet-helen-heath/|url-status=dead}} In 2017 she was publishing programme leader at Whitireia Publishing (part of Whitireia Community Polytechnic).{{Cite web|url=https://www.victoria.ac.nz/modernletters/our-students/phd-graduates/helen-heath|title=Helen Heath|website=International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington|access-date=2019-05-29}}
Works
Heath's poetry explores ideas of science, motherhood and grief, and she draws inspiration from scientists such as Isaac Newton.
Heath's first published work was the chapbook, Watching the Smoke. In 2012 she published her first poetry collection, Graft. Her collection Are Friends Electric? was published in 2018 by Victoria University Press.{{Cite book|title=Are friends electric?|last=Heath|first=Helen|publisher=Victoria University Press|year=2018|isbn=9781776561902|location=Wellington [New Zealand]|oclc=1032024266}}
Heath has also been published in the Best New Zealand Poems series (2012){{Cite web|url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/iiml/bestnzpoems/BNZP12/contents.html|title=Best New Zealand Poems 2012|website=nzetc.victoria.ac.nz|access-date=26 November 2017}} and literary journals, including Turbine,{{Cite web|url=http://www.turbinekapohau.co.nz|title=Turbine {{!}} Kapohau 2016|date=2016|website=Turbine {{!}} Kapohau|access-date=26 November 2017}} Swamp,{{Cite web|url=http://www.swampwriting.com/?page_id=73|title=Plum|last=Heath|first=Helen|website=Swamp|language=en-us|access-date=26 November 2017}} 4th Floor,{{Cite news|url=http://4thfloorjournal.co.nz/about/|title=About Us|work=4th Floor Literary Journal|access-date=26 November 2017|language=en-US}} and Snorkel.{{Cite web|url=http://snorkel.org.au/017/contents.html|title=Snorkel #17: Contents|date=April 2013|website=Snorkel|language=en|access-date=26 November 2017}}
Awards
Graft won the 2013 NZSA Jessie McKay Best First Book Award for Poetry at the New Zealand Post Book Awards.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/past-winners-by-author?letter=H|title=Past Winners by Author|website=New Zealand Book Awards Trust|access-date=26 November 2017}}
The scientific perspective of the poetry in Graft led her poem ‘Making Tea in the Universe’ to win the 2011 inaugural Science Teller Poetry Award. In 2013, the collection became the first book of poetry or fiction work to be shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize. The book was also listed in the New Zealand Listener's Top 100 Books of 2012.{{Cite web|url=http://www.noted.co.nz/archive/listener-nz-2012/the-100-best-books-of-2012/|title=The 100 best books of 2012|website=The Listener|language=en|access-date=26 November 2017}}
In 2019 Are Friends Electric? won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.{{Cite web|url=https://www.creativenz.govt.nz/news/ockham-new-zealand-book-awards-2019-winners-announcement|title=Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2019 Winners Announcement|date=14 May 2019|website=Creative New Zealand|access-date=29 May 2019}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |last=Heath |first=Helen |title=Graft |publisher=Victoria University Press |year=2012 |ISBN=9780864737762 |edition=paperback 1st |author-mask=2}}
- {{cite book |last=Heath |first=Helen |title=Are Friends Electric? |publisher=Victoria University Press |year=2018 |ISBN=9781776561902 |edition=paperback 1st |author-mask=2}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
[https://www.helenheath.com Official website]
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Category:International Institute of Modern Letters alumni
Category:New Zealand fiction writers