Malla Nunn is a

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

-born

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

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. ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. Her works include the

murder mysteries "Murder Mysteries" is a fantasy short story by Neil Gaiman first published in the 1992 anthology ''Midnight Graffiti'' and later collected in his collections ''Angels and Visitations'' and ''Smoke and Mirrors''. Plot The narrator, a young Engl ...

'' A Beautiful Place to Die'' and ''Let the Dead Lie,'' as well as the award-winning young adult novel, ''When the Ground Is Hard''.

Private life

Nunn was born in Swaziland and moved to Perth with her parents in the 1970s. She attended the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

graduating with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

with a double major in English and History. She completed a

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

Theatre Studies Theatre studies (sometimes referred to as theatrology or dramatics) is the study of theatrical performance in relation to its literary, physical, psychobiological, sociological, and historical contexts. It is an interdisciplinary field which also e ...

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. While in America she met her husband-to-be and they live with their two children in Sydney.

Career

Nunn wrote and directed several short film including the documentary ''Servant of the Ancestors'' in 1998 which screened at several festivals. It won Best Documentary Silver Images, Pan African, Zanzibar Film Festival, 2000. Her first book '' A Beautiful Place to Die'' was published in 2008. It is the first instalment in the Emmanuel Cooper series of novels, set in South Africa in the beginning of the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

era.

Bibliography

Crime fiction

Emmanuel Cooper series * '' A Beautiful Place to Die'' (2008) * ''Let the Dead Lie'' (2010) * ''Silent Valley'' (2012) also known as ''Blessed are the Dead'' * ''Present Darkness'' (2014) Other * Contributor to ''If I Tell You... I'll Have to Kill You'' (

Michael Robotham Michael Robotham (born 9 November 1960) is an Australian crime fiction writer who has twice won the CWA Gold Dagger award for best novel and twice been shortlisted for the Edgar Award for best novel. His eldest child is Alexandra Hope Robotham, ...

editor) (2013)

Young adult fiction

* ''When the Ground Is Hard'' (2019) * ''Sugar Town Queens'' (2022)

Awards

* 2009 Winner

Davitt Award The Davitt Awards are literary awards which are presented annually by the Sisters in Crime Australia association. The awards are named in honour of Ellen Davitt (1812–1879) who wrote Australia's first mystery novel, ''Force and Fraud'' in 1865 ...

– Best Adult Novel – '' A Beautiful Place to Die'' * 2011 nominated

Ned Kelly Awards The Ned Kelly Awards (named for bushranger Ned Kelly) are Australia's leading literary awards for crime writing in both the crime fiction and true crime genres. They were established in 1996 by the Crime Writers Association of Australia to reward ...

for Crime Writing – Best Novel – ''Let the Dead Lie'' * Highly Commended – Ellis Peters Historical Crime Awards – ''Let the Dead Lie'' * 2013 shortlisted

– Best Adult Crime Novel – ''Silent Valley'' * 2013 shortlisted

for Crime Writing – Best Fiction – ''Silent Valley'' * 2013 nominated

Edgar Allan Poe Awards The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

– Best Paperback Original – Blessed are the Dead (aka Silent Valley) * 2015 shortlisted

– Best Adult Crime Novel – ''Present Darkness'' * 2015 shortlisted

– Adult Fiction – ''Present Darkness'' *2019 winner

LA Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography, biography, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest, current interest, ...

– Young Adult – ''When the Ground Is Hard'' *2020 winner Bank Street Children's Book Committee

Josette Frank Award The Josette Frank Award is an American children's literary award for fiction given annually by the Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education. It "honors a book or books of outstanding literary merit in which children or young peo ...

, Best Book of the Year with "Outstanding Merit" – ''When the Ground Is Hard'' *2020 shortlisted Children's Book Council of Australia Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers – ''When the Ground Is Hard'' *2020 shortlisted

– Best Young Adult crime novel *2022 shortlisted Children's Book Council of Australia Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers – ''Sugar Town Queens''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunn, Malla Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Australian screenwriters Australian women screenwriters Australian women novelists 21st-century Australian novelists Australian mystery writers Swazi emigrants to Australia 21st-century Australian women writers 21st-century Australian screenwriters Women mystery writers