Helen Heath (born 1970) is a poet from New Zealand.

Background

Heath is based in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand. She received her MA and PhD in Creative Writing from the

International Institute of Modern Letters The International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) ( mi, Te Pūtahi Tuhi Auaha o te Ao) is a centre of creative writing based within Victoria University of Wellington. Founded in 2001, the IIML offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses (i ...

, at the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

. In 2017 she was publishing programme leader at Whitireia Publishing (part of Whitireia Community Polytechnic).

Works

Heath's poetry explores ideas of science, motherhood and grief, and she draws inspiration from scientists such as

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...

. Heath's first published work was the chapbook, ''Watching the Smoke.'' In 2012 she published her first poetry collection, ''Graft.'' Her collection ''Are Friends Electric?'' was published in 2018 by Victoria University Press. Heath has also been published in the ''Best New Zealand Poems'' series (2012) and literary journals, including ''Turbine,'' ''Swamp'', ''4th Floor,'' and ''Snorkel.''

Awards

''Graft'' won the 2013 NZSA Jessie McKay Best First Book Award for Poetry at the New Zealand Post Book Awards. The scientific perspective of the poetry in ''Graft'' led her poem ‘Making Tea in the Universe’ to win the 2011 inaugural

Science Teller Poetry Award Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

. In 2013, the collection became the first book of poetry or fiction work to be shortlisted for the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

Science Book Prize. The book was also listed in the New Zealand Listener's Top 100 Books of 2012. In 2019 ''Are Friends Electric?'' won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Helen Living people 1970 births International Institute of Modern Letters alumni New Zealand fiction writers New Zealand women poets People from Wellington City