Mikaela Nyman
- Damien Wilkins
- Teresia Teaiwa
- Pala Molisa
Mikaela Nyman (born 1966) is a Finnish-New Zealand novelist, poet, journalist and editor. After an early career in journalism and non-fiction work, she published her first poetry collection (in Swedish) in 2019 and her first novel (in English) in 2020. The former resulted in her being nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Her work has been published in various anthologies and journals, and she was the co-editor of the first anthology of Vanuatu women's writing.
Life and career
Born in Åland in Finland in 1966,[1] Nyman's first language was Swedish.[2] She is a granddaughter of Finnish writer Valdemar Nyman [sv].[1] She worked as a journalist early in her career and in 1995 wrote a biography of a Finnish woman who established a newspaper in Kasaï called Tankar: Hildegard Mangelus liv.[2] In the late 1990s Nyman worked at the College of Labour Studies in Zimbabwe.[2]
Nyman moved to New Zealand in 2002, and from 2004 to 2016 worked as a teacher of English to non-native speakers and worked in the international humanitarian and development space.[2] During this time, she lived in Vanuatu for four years running an aid programme.[2][3][4] In 2006 she published the non-fiction book Democratizing Indonesia: The challenges of civil society in the era of reformasi.[2] In 2011, she gained a master's degree in creative writing with distinction from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington, and followed this with a doctorate in creative writing in 2020.[2][5]
In 2019, her first poetry collection, När vändkrets läggs mot vändkrets, dealing with the death of her sister and her challenges moving between two cultures, was published in Swedish. She was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2020 as a result of this work.[2][1] In 2019 she also received an award for short story writing in the Ronald Hugh Morrieson Literary Awards.[2]
Her first novel, Sado (2020), published by Victoria University Press, is set during and after the 2015 Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu.[2][3] It formed part of her PhD thesis under her supervisors Damien Wilkins, Teresia Teaiwa and Pala Molisa.[6] Reviewer Steve Walker for Stuff described the novel as "both timely and timeless" and said Nyman "forces us to understand rather than judge".[4] It was published in March 2020 as New Zealand went into a COVID-19 lockdown.[6]
Her work has been published in various anthologies and journals including Ko Aotearoa Tātou | We Are New Zealand (2020), Strong Words 2019: The Best of the Landfall Essay Competition and Sport.[2] Together with co-editor Rebecca Tobo Olul-Hossen she edited Sista, Stanap Strong, the first anthology of Vanuatu women's writing, published by Victoria University Press in 2021, which she says has become part of the Vanuatu high school curriculum.[3]
In 2021, she was awarded a Creative New Zealand grant to work on a poetry collection in English and to offer community writing classes.[7] In the same year, she was the visiting artist/writer in residence for Massey University, Palmerston North and Square Edge Community Arts Centre.[3][7][8] As of 2023[update], she is based in New Plymouth and is the Taranaki regional representative for the New Zealand Society of Authors.[7] In September 2023, she was awarded the Robert Burns Fellowship for 2024, and said she planned to use the time on the residency writing her second novel.[9]
Selected works
- Tankar: Hildegard Mangelus liv, Abacus (Swedish, non-fiction, 1995)
- Democratizing Indonesia: The challenges of civil society in the era of reformasi, NIAS Press (English, non-fiction, 2006)
- När vändkrets läggs mot vändkrets, Ellips förlag [sv] (Swedish, poetry collection, 2019)
- Sado, Victoria University Press (English, novel, 2020)
- Sista, Stanap Strong, Victoria University Press (English, co-editor of anthology, 2021)
References
- ^ a b c "Mikaela Nyman". Nordic Co-operation. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Nyman, Mikaela". Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
- ^ a b c d Groenestein, Catherine (19 January 2023). "Taranaki writer's book headed for prestigious library shelves". Taranaki Daily News. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
- ^ a b Walker, Steve (20 April 2020). "Sado: Why Mikaela Nyman's debut novel is both timely and timeless". Stuff. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
- ^ Nyman, Mikaela (2020). 'Sado' - A novel and Expressions of creativity and rhetorical allience: Ni-Vanuatu women's voices (Doctoral thesis). Open Access Repository Victoria University of Wellington, Victoria University of Wellington. doi:10.26686/wgtn.14746050.
- ^ a b "Q&A with Mikaela Nyman". Te Herenga Waka University Press. 23 July 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
- ^ a b c Winder, Virginia (16 September 2021). "Taranaki author to run free writing classes with Creative NZ funding". Taranaki Daily News. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
- ^ "Mikaela Nyman is Massey University's visiting artist for 2021". Manawatu Guardian. 10 March 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
- ^ "Taranaki writer awarded prestigious arts fellowship". Taranaki Daily News. 22 September 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
External links
- Author profile on Read NZ Te Pou Muramura
- PhD graduate profile at the International Institute of Modern Letters
- "Kava i kik", poem in English by Nyman published in Turbine | Kapohau
- v
- t
- e
- 1959 Ian Cross
- 1960 Maurice Duggan
- 1961 John Caselberg
- 1962 R.A.K. Mason
- 1963 Maurice Shadbolt
- 1964 Maurice Gee
- 1965 Janet Frame
- 1966–67 James K. Baxter
- 1968 Ruth Dallas
- 1969 Warren Dibble
- 1970 O. E. Middleton
- 1971 Noel Hilliard
- 1972 Ian Wedde
- 1973 Graham Billing
- 1974 Hone Tuwhare
- 1975 Witi Ihimaera
- 1976 Sam Hunt
- 1977 Keri Hulme
- 1977–78 Roger Hall
- 1978 Peter Olds
- 1979 Michael A. Noonan
- 1980 Philip Temple
- 1981–82 William Sewell
- 1983 Rawiri Paratene
- 1984 Brian Turner
- 1985–86 Cilla McQueen
- 1987 Robert Lord
- 1988 John Dickson
- 1989 Renée
- 1990 David Eggleton
- 1991 Lynley Hood
- 1992 Owen Marshall
- 1993 Stuart Hoar
- 1994 Christine Johnston
- 1995 Elspeth Sandys
- 1996 Bernadette Hall
- 1997 Paddy Richardson
- 1998–99 Michael King
- 1999 Paula Boock
- 2000 James Norcliffe
- 2001 Jo Randerson
- 2002 Alison Wong
- 2003 Nick Ascroft
- 2003 Sarah Quigley
- 2004 Kate Duignan
- 2005–06 Catherine Chidgey
- 2006 Dianne Ruth Pettis
- 2007 Laurence Fearnley
- 2008 Sue Wootton
- 2009 Michael Harlow
- 2010 Michele Powles
- 2011 Fiona Farrell
- 2012 Emma Neale
- 2013 David Howard
- 2014 Majella Cullinane
- 2015 Louise Wallace
- 2016 Victor Rodger
- 2017 Craig Cliff
- 2018 Rhian Gallagher
- 2019 Emily Duncan
- 2020 John Newton
- 2021 Becky Manawatu
- 2022 Albert Belz
- 2023 Kathryn van Beek
- 2024 Mikaela Nyman