Frankie McMillan

Frankie McMillan
Born	1950 Christchurch
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	New Zealand

Frankie McMillan is a writer of poetry, fiction and flash fiction. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Biography

Frankie McMillan was born in Christchurch in 1950.[1] She studied education and sociology at the University of Canterbury. In the 1970s, she lived off the land with her young family up the Parapara Valley in Golden Bay, originally in an old shack with no electricity, a wood range and solar panels, and then in a replacement house on the same land.[2][3]

In 1999 she studied for a MA in creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington and later studied theatre at Sydney University.[2][3]

Her first collection of poetry, Dressing for the Cannibals, was launched in August 2009 as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations for Christchurch City Library.[4][5] Her work has been published in Best New Zealand Poems[6][7] as well as on online poetry blogs[8][9] and in journals including Turbine, Snorkel, JAAM, Trout, takahē, Sweet Mammalian and Cincinnati Review (US).[10][11][12][13] It has also appeared in Poems in the Waiting Room[14] and in anthologies such as The Unbelievable Lightness of Eggs (Hallard, 2006), Essential NZ Short Stories (Vintage, 2009) and Best New Zealand Fiction Anthologies (Vintage 2008 and 2009).[1]

In 2016, following the publication of My Mother and the Hungarians and other small fictions, she was invited to Hungary as the guest of the Hungarian Embassy in Wellington, to attend a commemorative event of the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.[15][3]

She lives in Christchurch[2] and teaches creative writing at the Hagley Writers’ Institute.[16][17]

Awards and Prizes 

Frankie McMillan was awarded the Creative New Zealand Todd New Writers' Bursary in 2005.[18]

She won the 2009 New Zealand Poetry International Competition[19] and the 2013 and 2015 New Zealand Flash Fiction Competition.[20][21][22]

In 2014, she was the recipient of the Ursula Bethell Residency in Creative Writing at the University of Canterbury.[23]

She received the University of Auckland residency at the Michael King Writers Centre in 2017,[24] and the NZSA Peter & Dianne Beatson Fellowship in 2019.[25][26]

My Mother and the Hungarians and other small fictions (Canterbury University Press, 2016) was longlisted for the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.[27] The Father of Octopus Wrestling and other small fictions (Canterbury University Press, 2019) was named as one of the ten best New Zealand fiction books of 2019 by The Spinoff.[28]

Bibliography 

Poetry

• Dressing for the Cannibals (Sudden Valley Press, 2009)
• There are No Horses in Heaven (Canterbury University Press, 2015)

Short fiction

• The Bag Lady’s Picnic and Other Stories (Shoal Bay Press, 2001)[29]
• My Mother and the Hungarians and other small fictions (Canterbury University Press, 2016)
• The Father of Octopus Wrestling and other small fictions (Canterbury University Press, 2019)[30][28][26]

As co-editor

• Bonsai: best small stories from Aotearoa New Zealand (Canterbury University Press, 2018)

See also

• List of New Zealand poets

External links

• Profile of Frankie McMillan on Read NZ Te Pou Muramura website
• Listen to Frankie McMillan read 'The Honking of 'Ducks' on NZ Poetry Shelf website

References

1. "McMillan, Frankie". Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. November 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
2. Eleven, Beck (18 April 2015). "Back to nature for city poet Frankie McMillan". Stuff. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
3. Hindmarsh, Gerard (5 October 2019). "Out West: Golden Bay hippy life in the 70s inspires writer". Stuff. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
4. Jones, Tim (10 September 2009). "An Interview with Frankie McMillan". Books in the Trees. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
5. "Poetry at the Library". Christchurch City Libraries. 18 August 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
6. McMillan, Frankie (2012). "Piece by Piece". Best New Zealand Poems. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
7. McMillan, Frankie (2015). "Grinding the wind". Best New Zealand Poems. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
8. Lowe, Helen (17 March 2015). ""Hour glass" and "at night my dead mother appears wanting soup" by Frankie McMillan". Tuesday Poem. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
9. "Tuesday Poem: "My Father, The Oceanographer" by Frankie McMillan". Helen Lowe... on anything, really. 17 January 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
10. McMillan, Frankie (2018). "Man Overboard". Turbine Kapohau. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
11. Green, Paula (1 June 2015). "Sweet Mammalian #2 is sweet indeed – Where do I start? Every click comes up poetry trumps". NZ Poetry Shelf. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
12. "Issue Two Contents". Sweet Mammalian. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
13. "Frankie McMillan". takahē magazine. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
14. "Winter's on the way". Poems in the Waiting Room (NZ). 26 May 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
15. Green, Paula (29 October 2016). "#nzbookshopday I recommend buying Frankie McMillan's breathtaking small fictions: My Mother and the Hungarians". NZ Poetry Shelf. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
16. "Staff". Hagley Writers' Institute. 17 December 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
17. "Interview with Frankie McMillan". Nod Ghosh. 3 February 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
18. "Frankie McMillan". ANZL: Academy of New Zealand Literature. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
19. "2009 Poetry Competition Results". New Zealand Poetry Society. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
20. "Frankie McMillan - Playful Poetry". RNZ. 1 September 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
21. "National Flash Fiction Day Winning Stories". Flash Frontier. July 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
22. "National Flash Fiction Day Winners". Flash Frontier. August 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
23. "Ursula Bethell Residency in Creative Writing". University of Canterbury. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
24. "Frankie McMillan: 2017 University of Auckland Residency". Michael King Writers Centre. 18 July 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
25. "NZSA Peter & Dianne Beatson Fellowship 2019 recipient". The Big Idea. 18 September 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
26. "Frankie McMillan and the Father of Octopus Wrestling". RNZ. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
27. "2017 Awards Longlist". NZ Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
28. "The 10 best New Zealand fiction books of 2019". The Spinoff. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
29. Bieder, Penelope (18 January 2002). "Frankie McMillan: The Bag Lady's Picnic and other stories". NZ herald. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
30. Green, Paula (22 October 2019). "Poetry Shelf fascinations: Frankie McMillan's The Father of Octopus Wrestling and other small fictions". NZ Poetry Shelf. Retrieved 7 January 2020.