Karyn Hay (born 1959 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

) is a New Zealand author and broadcaster. She came to fame as the presenter of 1980s music TV show

Radio with Pictures ''Radio with Pictures'' was an early music video programme, airing on New Zealand broadcaster TV2 (later South Pacific Television) from 1976 to 1989. "''RadPix''" aired as a weekly, late night series featuring adult and alternative music. Hist ...

before going on to an extensive career in television and radio.

Early life

Hay grew up in the Thames Valley dairy factory town of Waitoa, near

Te Aroha Te Aroha ( mi, Te Aroha-a-uta) is a rural town in the Waikato region of New Zealand with a population of 3,906 people in the 2013 census, an increase of 138 people since 2006. It is northeast of Hamilton and south of Thames. It sits at the f ...

. She recalls it as "heartland New Zealand... There was this yearning all the time to break out of that." She has only dim recollections of the 60s music TV shows. She found her escape in the printed word, "... reading William Burroughs, Hermann Hesse, Jean-Paul Sartre… Coming from a town like Waitoa, that kind of literature was more expansive than any kind of drug".

Broadcasting

Inspired by "the thought of arguing for a living", Hay initially applied for law school but became a cadet with

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...

instead, beginning work at 1ZH in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

as a

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or ...

. She worked as a copywriter at

Radio Hauraki Radio Hauraki is a New Zealand rock music station that started in 1966. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally until 1970 to break the monopoly held by the state-o ...

, and was New Zealand's first female rock DJ. Her television career began in 1981 when she wrote to

Television New Zealand , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the Solom ...

suggesting they might like a new presenter for alternative music show

. Producer Peter Blake thought "she was right for the times...after the whole

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

new wave thing, the music was changing, and the programme with it." It was too much change for some of the audience. She had a New Zealand accent in an era when BBC style

received pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent traditionally regarded as the Standard language, standard and most Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been ...

was compulsory for New Zealand television presenters, and they were required to attend elocution lessons. She either refused to attend, or was let off. Hay was the first New Zealand television presenter to speak with a New Zealand accent. Journalist Veronica Schmidt recalled that "although the BBC plum was no longer stuffed in every announcer’s mouth, appearing with an entirely raw Kiwi accent was still unheard of". Listener writer Diana Wichtel remembered her unreconstructed Kiwi vowels as "depending on your point of view, the end of civilization as we knew it or a breath of indigenous fresh air". For her part, Hay was unrepentant, telling the

New Zealand Listener The ''New Zealand Listener'' is a weekly New Zealand magazine that covers the political, cultural and literary life of New Zealand by featuring a variety of topics, including current events, politics, social issues, health, technology, arts, f ...

"I’m a New Zealander. I’m not ashamed of my New Zealand accent". Her stint with

ran for five years. She left in 1986, later recalling that, "Being a TV personality or whatever, celebrity just wasn’t me in a way…I didn’t want to be stuck". Off-screen, she spearheaded a campaign to introduce a compulsory New Zealand music airplay quota for New Zealand radio. It resulted in a petition of 250,000 signatures being presented to Parliament. New Zealand radio stations agreed to a voluntary quota of New Zealand music content. She was the inaugural chair of the Auckland chapter of Women in Film and Television. In 1987, Hay moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

with partner

Andrew Fagan Andrew Fagan (born 1962) is a New Zealand writer, singer-songwriter and long-distance solo sailor. He grew up in Wellington. He gained fame in New Zealand in the 1980s as the lead singer of the pop group The Mockers.The Mockers The Mockers were a New Zealand pop band formed in Wellington in 1979 by Andrew Fagan. Fagan was the only ever-present of the band's line-up whose initial members were mostly drawn from Fagan's Rongotai College classmates. Their songs include "O ...

. The couple lived on a

houseboat A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a home. Most houseboats are not motorized as they are usually moored or kept stationary at a fixed point, and often tethered to land to provide utilities. How ...

on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

. It was here that she wrote her first novel ''Emerald Budgies.'' Karyn returned to New Zealand with Andrew in 1989. They returned to England in 1996 where she had two children She returned to television presenting in 2008 for ''Rocked the Nation'' and the 2015 documentary ''NZ Women in Rock''. In February 2018, Hay began a late night radio show on

RNZ National RNZ National ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa Ā-Motu), formerly Radio New Zealand National, and known until 2007 as the National Programme or National Radio, is a publicly funded non-commercial New Zealand English-language radio network operat ...

''Lately, With Karyn Hay''. In September 2022 it was announced that Hay's show would be extended earlier into the evening to replace the departing Bryan Crump's night show.

Author

''Emerald Budgies'' was described in the

blurb A blurb is a short promotional piece accompanying a piece of creative work. It may be written by the author or publisher or quote praise from others. Blurbs were originally printed on the back or rear dust jacket of a book, and are now also fou ...

as "a darkly comic tale of drug addiction and betrayal". It was first published in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, in 2000, under the nom de plume Lee Maxwell (her middle names). She had wanted to throw off her previous public image but, on the promotional tour that followed, she said she felt like an imposter in a spy movie. "I started thinking, maybe I don't want to be this new person, maybe it's not so bad being Karyn Hay."

Kate Camp Kate Camp (born 1972) is a New Zealand poet and author who currently resides in Wellington. Early life and education Camp was born in 1972 in Wellington, New Zealand. She has a BA in English from the Victoria University of Wellington. Career ...

described ''Emerald Budgies'' as 'raw, thoughtful and very funny'.

Chris Knox Chris Knox (born 2 September 1952) is a New Zealand rock and roll musician, cartoonist and movie reviewer who emerged during the punk rock era with his bands The Enemy and Toy Love. After Toy Love disbanded in the early 1980s, he formed the g ...

said it 'was not for the queasy... Imagine 1980s

Doris Lessing Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...

crossed with

Bret Easton Ellis Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author, screenwriter, short-story writer, and director. Ellis was first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a w ...

and you're some way to imagining what this book reads like'. For Denis Welch it was, "A relentlessly bleak – if extremely funny – vision of modern life with no redemption whatsoever for anyone anywhere . . . There are times when ''Emerald Budgies'' makes ''

Trainspotting Trainspotting may refer to: * Trainspotting (hobby), an amateur interest in railways/railroads * ''Trainspotting'' (novel), a 1993 novel by Irvine Welsh ** ''Trainspotting'' (film), a 1996 film based on the novel *** ''Trainspotting'' (soundtr ...

'' look like ''

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'' is a classic American 1903 children's novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her aunts, one stern and one kind, in the fictional village of Riverboro, Maine. Rebecca's joy ...

''.’ ''Emerald Budgies'' won the NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction in the ''2001 Montana Book Awards''. and Hay was awarded a ''

Frank Sargeson Frank Sargeson () (born Norris Frank Davey; 23 March 1903 – 1 March 1982) was a New Zealand short story writer and novelist. Born in Hamilton, Sargeson had a middle-class and puritanical upbringing, and initially worked as a lawyer. After ...

Fellowship'' in 2004. Her second novel, ''The March of the Foxgloves'', was published in New Zealand in 2016. Set in 1893, the book touches on the 19th century trade in

erotic photography Erotic photography is a style of art photography of an erotic, sexually suggestive or sexually provocative nature. Erotic photography is often distinguished from nude photography, which contains nude subjects not necessarily in an erotic situatio ...

. A deluxe hardcover edition included photographs by fine-art photographer Vicky Papas Vergara, featuring Australian

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

artist Miss Sina King. ''The March of the Foxgloves'' was No. 1 on the New Zealand fiction charts. Dionne Christian, writing in the NZ Herald, called ''The March of the Foxgloves'' "a funny, lively and energetic romp which delves into the underbelly of society" and that Hay "has paid close attention to the settings - London, Auckland and Tauranga - period details and historical events". Stephanie Jones found Hay "a sly and delightful wordsmith, a grand raconteur of the page, in whose hands historical fiction feels utterly current, even urgent" Her third novel, ''Winged Helmet, White Horse'' was published in New Zealand in 2018 with the NZ Listener calling Hay "a smart, gutsy writer ... it’s impossible to read this book without hearing her trademark vocal delivery. She isn’t afraid of flawed characters or loose ends, and throws in plot twists you won’t see coming. Good at witty dialogue, she also takes a few comic and barbed pokes at middle-class life and the literary world". In Spring 2018, she was a resident at the Michael King Writers' Centre.

Honours and awards

In the

2020 New Year Honours The 2020 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

, Hay was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to broadcasting and the music industry. She was awarded a

Taite Music Prize The Taite Music Prize is an annual New Zealand music award event. It features the same-named prize awarded for the best album from New Zealand. The prize is named after respected New Zealand music journalist and broadcaster Dylan Taite, who die ...

, the Independent Spirit Award, in 2022 for her TV and radio work since the 1980s.

Selected works

Novels

*''Emerald Budgies'' Auckland, New Zealand: Vintage, 2000. . *''The March of the Foxgloves'' Auckland, New Zealand: Esom House Press, 2016. . *''Winged Helmet, White Horse'' Auckland, New Zealand: Esom House Press, 2018. .

Short story collections

*''The Picnic Virgin'' Edited by

Emily Perkins Emily Jean Perkins (born May 4, 1977) is a Canadian former actress, best known for her roles as Crystal Braywood in the TV series ''Hiccups'', young Beverly Marsh in '' Stephen King's It'', and Brigitte Fitzgerald in ''Ginger Snaps''. Since the l ...

. Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University Press, 1999. *''The Best of New Zealand Fiction Volume 2'' Edited by

Fiona Kidman Dame Fiona Judith Kidman ( Eakin, born 26 March 1940) is a New Zealand novelist, poet, scriptwriter and short story writer. She grew up in Northland, and worked as a librarian and a freelance journalist early in her career. She began writing ...

. Auckland, New Zealand: Vintage, 2005. *''Home: New Short Stories by New Zealand writers'' Edited by Graeme Lay and Stephen Stratford. Auckland, New Zealand: Black Swan, 2005. *''Way Back Then, Before We Were Ten, New Zealand writers and childhood'' compiled and edited by Graeme Lay, Auckland, New Zealand: David Ling Publishing, 2009.

References

External links

*''Sketches: Bangkok Observations'' http://thespinoff.co.nz/books/16-03-2017/book-of-the-week-karyn-hay-on-creating-nude-postcards-for-her-latest-novel *''New Zild - The Story of New Zealand English (documentary) 2005'' https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/new-zild-2005 *'' History of WIFT in NZ'' http://www.wiftnz.org.nz/media/46173/history%20of%20wift%20in%20nz.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, Karyn 1959 births Living people New Zealand women novelists New Zealand television presenters New Zealand radio presenters New Zealand women radio presenters New Zealand women television presenters Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit