Duncan Sarkies is a New Zealand

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

, stand-up comic and short story writer. Sarkies grew up in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

city of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

and is the brother of

Robert Sarkies Robert Sarkies (born 6 March 1967) is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter. Sarkies grew up in the South Island city of Dunedin. He attended Kaikorai Valley College. His three feature films to date have been set in Dunedin, or in the lowe ...

a New Zealand film director who is also a scriptwriter. Sarkies is best known for writing ''

Scarfies ''Scarfies'' (released as ''Crime 101'' in the United States) is a 1999 New Zealand black comedy film set in the southern university city of Dunedin. The film's original title comes from the local nickname for university students, scarfie, so ...

'', a

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

- thriller about university students in Dunedin, and New Zealand's sixth-highest-grossing film. He wrote ''

New Fans "New Fans" is the tenth episode of the HBO comedy series ''Flight of the Conchords''. This episode first aired in the United States on Sunday, August 19, 2007. Plot synopsis A performance at a local " World Music Jam" results in the Conchords ga ...

'', the tenth episode of the comedy series ''

Flight of the Conchords Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's comed ...

''. Sarkies

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

Two Little Boys "Two Little Boys" is a song written by American composer Theodore F. Morse and lyricist Edward Madden. It was written in 1902 and became a popular music hall song of the time, especially by Scottish singer Harry Lauder. It describes the story of ...

'' was published in March 2008, and is being made into a film (also called ''

'') during 2011.

Awards

Sarkies was awarded the Sunday Star Times

Bruce Mason Playwriting Award The Bruce Mason Playwriting Award is an annual award that recognises the work of an outstanding emerging New Zealand playwright. The winner is decided by the votes of a panel of leading New Zealand artistic directors and script advisors. The ...

in 1994. In 1995, he won the Chapman Tripp Theatre Award for Best New Zealand Play for his 1994 work '' Saving Grace''. In 1998 he was awarded the Louis Johnson New Writers Bursary. His book of short stories '' Stray Thoughts and Nose Bleeds'' won the Montana New Zealand's Hubert Church NZSA Best First Book of Fiction Award in 2000.

Sarkies' works

Plays

*''The Ceramic Camel'' (1993) *''Lovepuke'' (1993)* *''Saving Grace'' (1994) *''Snooze'' (1997) *''Twelve'' (1997) *''Blue Vein'' (1997) *''Special'' (1997) *''Bystander'' (1998) *Published in Eleven Young Playwrights (1994) Podcasts The Mysterious secrets of Uncle Berties Botanarium

Novels

*'' Two Little Boys (2008)'' *'' The Demolition of the Century (2013)''

Films

*''

'' *''

Two Little Boys (film) ''Two Little Boys'' is a 2012 New Zealand feature film based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Duncan Sarkies. It stars Bret McKenzie and Hamish Blake in the two title roles, and is directed by Robert Sarkies. Duncan Sarkies served as a sc ...

Television

*''

'', the tenth episode of the first season of the comedy series ''

'' *''

The New Cup "The New Cup" is the second episode of the List of Flight of the Conchords episodes#Season 2 (2009), second season of the HBO comedy series ''Flight of the Conchords (TV series), Flight of the Conchords'', and the series' fourteenth episode overa ...

'', the second episode of the second season of the comedy series ''

References

External links

duncansarkies.com
* Living people New Zealand male novelists 21st-century New Zealand dramatists and playwrights New Zealand screenwriters Male screenwriters New Zealand male short story writers New Zealand stand-up comedians Entertainers from Dunedin Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century New Zealand novelists New Zealand male dramatists and playwrights 21st-century New Zealand short story writers 21st-century New Zealand male writers 21st-century screenwriters Writers from Dunedin {{NewZealand-writer-stub