James Norcliffe

James Norcliffe was born on 3 March 1946{{Cite web|url=https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/new-zealand-childrens-authors/james-norcliffe/|title=Interview with James Norcliffe|date=2002|website=Christchurch City Libraries Nga Kete Wananga o Otautahi|access-date=28 November 2018}} in Greymouth. Some of his favourite books as a child were classics such as Coral Island, Treasure Island, The Heroes, Swiss Family Robinson, Alice in Wonderland and Wind in the Willows, Elleston Trevor's The Island of the Pines, and the Just William books and Bunter.{{Cite web|url=https://nzpoetrybox.wordpress.com/2013/11/14/reading-festival-james-norcliffe-was-a-child-for-so-long/|title=Reading Festival: James Norcliffe was a child for so long!|last=Green|first=Paula|date=14 November 2013|website=Poetry Box|access-date=28 November 2018}}

He is a teacher, writer and editor and has published several collections of poetry and a number of novels for children and young adults. His work has been published widely in journals both in New Zealand (including Landfall, Islands and Sport) and overseas, and his short stories for children have been widely anthologised.{{Cite web|url=https://authors.org.nz/author/jamesnorcliffe/|title=James Norcliffe|website=NZSA The New Zealand Society of Authors (Pen NZ Inc) Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa|access-date=28 November 2018}} He has been poetry and short story editor of takahē magazine{{Cite web|url=https://www.victoria.ac.nz/modernletters/bnzp/2005/norcliffe-note.htm|title=James Norcliffe|website=Best New Zealand Poems 2005|access-date=28 November 2018}} and poetry editor of the Christchurch Press, and has worked closely with the Christchurch School for Young Writers, including editing the annual Re-Draft anthologies.{{Cite web|url=http://jacket2.org/commentary/three-southern-gentlemen-poets|title=Three southern gentlemen poets: David Eggleton; David Howard; James (Jim) Norcliffe|last=Rapatahana|first=Vaughan|date=18 September 2015|website=Jacket2|access-date=10 December 2018}} With Joanna Preston, he collected earthquake poems written in the weeks and months after the 2010 Canterbury Earthquake and subsequent earthquakes, and edited Leaving the Red Zone, an anthology of 148 poems by 87 poets from across New Zealand.{{Cite web|url=https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/201791083/joanna-preston-and-james-norcliffe-canterbury-poems|title=Joanna Preston and James Norcliffe - Canterbury Poems|date=28 February 2016|website=Radio New Zealand |access-date=10 December 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.takahe.org.nz/tag/leaving-the-red-zone/|title=Earthquake poetry anthology launch|last=Zelas|first=Karen|date=1 March 2016|website=Takahe magazine|access-date=10 December 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/78235487/poetry-from-a-broken-city|title=Poetry from a broken city|last=Matthews|first=Philip|date=30 March 2016|website=Stuff |access-date=10 December 2018}} With Elizabeth Smither, he was judge of the 2016 Flash Fiction Day competition.{{Cite web|url=http://www.flash-frontier.com/2016/02/29/february-feature/|title=Interview: Rebecca Styles with 2016 NFFD Judges James Norcliffe and Elizabeth Smither|last=Styles|first=Rebecca|date=29 February 2016|website=Flash Frontier|access-date=10 December 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/81242321/fifth-national-flash-fiction-day-biggest-yet|title=Fifth National Flash Fiction Day biggest yet|last=Black|first=Eleanor|date=20 June 2016|website=Stuff |access-date=10 December 2018}}

He has appeared at a number of festivals and other book events including the Queensland Poetry Festival (2008), the International Poetry Festival in Medellin, Colombia, (2010), the Trois Rivieres International Poetry Festival in Quebec (2011){{Cite web|url=https://ameriquebeckian.blogspot.com/2011/10/ten-days-of-poetry.html|title=Ten days of poetry|date=12 October 2011|website=Jottings|access-date=28 November 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.anzliterature.com/member/james-norcliffe/|title=James Norcliffe ANZL Member|website=ANZL Academy of New Zealand Literature Te Whare Matatuhi o Aotearoa|access-date=28 November 2018}} and the WORD Christchurch Festival (2018).{{Cite web|url=https://wordchristchurch.co.nz/programme/sometimes-what-you-dont-say-is-the-story/|title=Sometimes, What You Don't Say Is the Story|website=Word Christchurch Festival 2018|access-date=28 November 2018}}

James Norcliffe has lived in or near Christchurch for much of his life, apart from spells in China (in the 1980s) and Brunei Darussalam (in the 1990s).{{Cite web|url=https://vln.school.nz/groupcms/view/921616/james-norcliffe|title=James Norcliffe|website=Virtual Learning Network|access-date=28 November 2018}} He is married with two children and lives with his wife at Church Bay, Lyttelton Harbour.{{Cite web|url=https://www.storylines.org.nz/Storylines+Profiles/Profiles+N-S/James+Norcliffe.html|title=James Norcliffe|website=Storylines|access-date=28 November 2018}}

Several of Norcliffe's books have been shortlisted for awards or named as Storylines Notable Books.{{Cite web|url=https://www.storylines.org.nz/Awards/Storylines+Notable+Books+Awards.html|title=Storylines Notable Books Awards|website=Storylines|access-date=28 November 2018|archive-date=12 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212143106/https://www.storylines.org.nz/Awards/Storylines+Notable+Books+Awards.html}} The Assassin of Gleam won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for the best New Zealand fantasy novel of 2006, and was shortlisted for the 2007 LIANZA Esther Glen Medal. The Loblolly Boy won the 2010 NZ Post Junior Fiction Award and was shortlisted for the Esther Glen Medal and the Sir Julius Vogel Science Fiction Award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguin.co.nz/authors/james-norcliffe|title=James Norcliffe|website=Penguin Books New Zealand|access-date=28 November 2018}}

Norcliffe won the Lilian Ida Smith Award in 1990{{Cite web|url=https://authors.org.nz/nzsa-lilian-ida-smith-award/|title=NZSA Lilian Ida Smith Award: recipients to 2017|website=NZSA The New Zealand Society of Authors (Pen NZ Inc) Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa|access-date=28 November 2018}} and the New Zealand Poetry Society's international competition in 1992. In 2003, he and Bernadette Hall received the inaugural Christchurch Press Literary Liaisons Honour Award for 'lasting contribution to literature in the South Island'.

Norcliffe was awarded the Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago in 2000.{{Cite web|url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/otagofellows/allprevious_burns.html|title=The Robert Burns Fellowship - previous recipients since the Fellowship was established|website=University of Otago Te Whare Wananga o Otago|access-date=28 November 2018|archive-date=8 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208001226/http://www.otago.ac.nz/otagofellows/allprevious_burns.html}} In 2006, he took up the Creative New Zealand Iowa University Fellowship and also took part in the Tasmanian Writers' Island of Residencies programme.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writer/norcliffe-james/|title=Norcliffe, James|date=May 2016|website=New Zealand Book Council Te Kaunihera Pukapuka o Aotearoa|access-date=28 November 2018}} He was Visiting Artist at Massey University in 2008{{Cite web|url=http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/learning/departments/school-english-media-studies/news-and-events/visiting-artist.cfm|title=Visiting Artist Scheme|date=2 November 2018|website=Massey University Te Kunenga ki Purehuroa|access-date=28 November 2018}} and he was the recipient of the 2012 University of Otago College of Education / Creative New Zealand Children's Writer in Residence.{{Cite web|url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/otagofellows/previous_writer.html|title=The University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children's Writer in Residence - Previous Recipients|website=University of Otago Te Whare Wananga o Otago|access-date=28 November 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/continuing-fine-tradition|title=Continuing a 'fine tradition'|last=Haggart|first=Matthew|date=14 September 2011|website=Otago Daily Times |access-date=10 December 2018}} During this residency, he wrote his children's novel Felix and the Red Rats.{{Cite web|url=https://akiwisbookreviews.wordpress.com/2014/04/20/q-a-with-james-norcliffe-author-of-felix-and-the-red-rats-a-finalist-in-the-new-zealand-post-childrens-book-awards/|title=Q & A with James Norcliffe, author of Felix and the Red Rats – a finalist in the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards|date=20 April 2014|website=My Opinion on Various Books|access-date=28 November 2018}} He was the Creative New Zealand Randell Cottage Writing Fellow in 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.randellcottage.co.nz/residency/writers/|title=The Writers|website=Randell Cottage Writers Trust|access-date=28 November 2018}}{{Cite periodical |last=Norcliffe|first=James|date=Spring 2018|title=A distinctive residency|periodical=New Zealand Author|issue=314 |pages=31–32}}

In 2022 he received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in Poetry,{{Cite web |last=Chumko |first=André |date=1 December 2022 |title=Writers honoured by prime minister for their contribution to New Zealand literature |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/130623369/writers-honoured-by-prime-minister-for-their-contribution-to-new-zealand-literature |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201034443if_/https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/130623369/writers-honoured-by-prime-minister-for-their-contribution-to-new-zealand-literature |archive-date=1 December 2022 |access-date=1 December 2022 |website=Stuff}} while in 2023 he won the Margaret Mahy Medal.{{Cite web |last= |date=2023-03-08 |title=Norcliffe announced as 2023 Margaret Mahy Medal winner |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2023/03/08/227914/norcliffe-announced-as-2023-margaret-mahy-medal-winner/ |access-date=2023-03-08 |website=Books+Publishing |language=en-AU}}

• Kitch A play written while teaching at Shirley Boy's High. (Unpublished, 1973)
• Under the Rotunda (Hazard Press, 1992)
• Penguin Bay (Hazard Press, 1993)
• The Emerald Encyclopedia (Hazard Press, 1994)
• The Carousel Experiment (Hazard Press, 1995)
• The Fun House Mirror with Alan Bunn and Marissa Johnpillai (Clerestory Press, 2003)
• The Assassin of Gleam (Hazard Press, 2005)
• The Loblolly Boy (Longacre Press, 2009)
• The Loblolly Boy and the Sorcerer (Longacre Press/Random House, 2011)
• The Enchanted Flute (Longacre Press/Random House, 2012)
• Packing a Bag for Mars (Clerestory Press, 2012)
• Shadow Play (Proverse Hong Kong, 2012. A Proverse Prize Publication. Pbk with an audio CD of all poems in the collection)
• Felix and the Red Rats (Longacre / Random House, 2013)
• The Pirates and the Night Maker (Longacre Press / Random House, 2015)
• Dark Days in the Oxygen Café (Victoria University Press, 2016)
• Twice Upon A Time (Puffin, 2017)

• Re-Draft 2 (with Alan Bunn) (Clerestory Press/School for Young Writers, 2002)
• Re-Draft 3 (with Alan Bunn) (Clerestory Press/School for Young Writers, 2003)
• Re-Draft 4 (with Alan Bunn) (Clerestory Press/School for Young Writers, 2004)
• Cupid on a Friday Night: Re-Draft 5 (with Alan Bunn) (Clerestory Press/School for Young Writers, 2005)
• Tennis with Raw Eggs: Re-Draft 6 (with Alan Bunn) (Clerestory Press/School for Young Writers, 2006)
• The Polar Bear Ward: Re-Draft 7 (with Tessa Duder) (Clerestory Press/School for Young Writers, 2007)
• D.I.Y Graffiti: Re-Draft 8 (with Tessa Duder) (Clerestory Press/School for Young Writers, 2008)
• Fishing for Birds: Re-Draft 9 (with Tessa Duder) (Clerestory Press/ School for Young Writers, 2009)
• The Steepest Street in the World: Re-Draft 10 (with Tessa Duder) (Clerestory Press/School For Young Writers, 2010)
• The Temptation of Sunlight: Redraft 11 (with Tessa Duder) (Clerestory Press, 2011)
• Walking a Tightrope in Bare Feet: Redraft 12 (with Tessa Duder) (Clerestory Press, 2012)
• Mad Honey: Redraft 13 (with Tessa Duder) (Clerestory Press, 2013)
• Essential New Zealand Poems: Facing the Empty Page (with Harry Ricketts and Siobhan Harvey) (Random House / Godwit, 2014)
• The Word is Out: Redraft 14 (with Tessa Duder) (Clerestory Press, 2014)
• They Call Me Ink: Redraft 15 (with Tessa Duder) (Clerestory Press, 2015)
• Leaving the Red Zone: poems from the Canterbury Earthquakes (with Joanna Preston) (Clerestory Press, 2016)
• Bonsai: Best small stories from Aotearoa New Zealand' (with Michelle Elvy and Frankie McMillan) (Canterbury University Press, 2018)

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Category:Living people

Category:1946 births

Category:New Zealand children's writers

Category:People from Greymouth