Christina Thompson
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Christina Thompson is best known for her book ''Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia'', which won the 2020 Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award for Nonfiction.


Career

Christina Thompson was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, and grew up outside of Boston. She received her Bachelor's degree in English, Phi Beta Kappa, from
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
in 1981 and her Ph.D. in English from
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb ...
in 1990. From 1994 to 1998 she was editor of
Meanjin ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is an Australian literary magazine. The name is derived from the Turrbal word for the spike of land where the city of Brisbane is located. It was founded in 1940 in Brisbane ...
, one of Australia's leading literary journals. The editor of ''
Harvard Review ''Harvard Review'' is a biannual literary journal published by Houghton Library at Harvard University. History In 1986 Stratis Haviaras, curator of the Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard University, founded a quarterly periodical called ''Erato''. ...
'' since 2000, she teaches in the Writing Program at Harvard University Extension, where she was awarded the James E. Conway Teaching Writing Award in 2008. Her first book, a memoir called '' Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All,'' was published in July 2008 by
Bloomsbury USA Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a ...
''.'' The story of the cultural collision between Westerners and the
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
of
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
, it was a finalist for the 2009 NSW Premier’s Literary Award and the 2010
William Saroyan International Prize for Writing The William Saroyan International Prize for Writing is a biennial literary award for fiction and nonfiction in the spirit of William Saroyan by emerging writers. It was established by Stanford University Libraries and the William Saroyan Foundation ...
. Her second book, '' Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia,'' is a history of Polynesian voyaging. Published March 12, 2019 by
Harper Harper may refer to: Names * Harper (name), a surname and given name Places ;in Canada *Harper Islands, Nunavut *Harper, Prince Edward Island ;In the United States *Harper, former name of Costa Mesa, California in Orange County * Harper, Illi ...
, it won the 2020 Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award for Nonfiction, the 2020 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, and the 2019 New South Wales Premier’s History Awards, and was a finalist for the 2020
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...
Ralph Waldo Emerson Award, the 2019 Mountbatten Maritime Award, the 2019 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award and the 2019
Queensland Literary Award The Queensland Literary Awards is an awards program established in 2012 by the Queensland literary community, funded by sponsors and administered by the State Library of Queensland. Like the former Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, the QLAs ...
. Her awards and fellowships include a Public Scholar Award from the
National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
, a Literature Fellowship from the
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
, and grants from
Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austr ...
, Arts Victoria, the Institute of International Education, and the Australian Federation of University Women. She is married to Tauwhitu Parangi, a member of the Ngāti Rēhia hapu of the Ngāpuhi iwi of Aotearoa/New Zealand, with whom she has three sons.


Bibliography


Books

*''Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All'' (2008, Bloomsbury) * ''Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia'' (2019, Harper)


Articles


"Skewing Male,"
''Daily Scholar'', Nov. 14, 2020 * “Some Kind of Kin,” ''Orion'', Summer 2019, vol. 38, no. 2 * “Robert Louis Stevenson’s South Pacific Voyage,” ''BBC World Histories'', 16, June/July 2019
“The Ritual of Renewal,”
''Daily Scholar'', Apr. 10, 2019

''New York Times'', Mar. 29, 2019
“Down the Research Rat Hole,”
''JSTOR Daily'', Dec. 20, 2018
“Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love,”
''Paris Review Daily'', May 27, 2013

''Essay Daily'', Sep. 27, 2013        


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Christina Living people Australian non-fiction writers Dartmouth College alumni University of Melbourne alumni Harvard University people Meanjin people Year of birth missing (living people) Harvard Extension School faculty