Mary Varnham (born 1946) is a New Zealand writer and publisher. She was a

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 ...

City Councillor from 1998 to 2001.

Biography

Varnham was raised in Paekakariki until she was 8 years old, when her family moved to Wellington. She attended Paekakariki School, Hataitai School, Wellington East Girls College and

Woodford House Havelock North ( mi, Te Hemo-a-Te Atonga) is a town in the Hawke's Bay region of the North Island of New Zealand, situated less than 2 km south-east of the city of Hastings. It was a borough for many years until the 1989 reorganisation of loca ...

. She studied a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in English and political science at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

, graduating in 1969. From 1972 to 1978, she lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where she worked as a writer, public relations consultant, and book publicist at

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

. After returning to New Zealand, she worked at

National Business Review The ''National Business Review'' (or ''NBR'') is a New Zealand online news publication aimed at the business sector. It has journalists based in Auckland and Wellington. History The ''NBR'' was founded in 1970 by then-23 year old publisher Hen ...

and Network Communications. In 1983, she joined the

New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party ( mi, Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa), or simply Labour (), is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descr ...

’s parliamentary research unit and in 1984, she became a ministerial press secretary for

Ann Hercus Dame Margaret Ann Hercus (née Sayers, born 24 February 1942), best known as Ann Hercus, is a New Zealand diplomat, politician and member of the Labour Party. She represented the Lyttelton electorate from 1978 to 1987. Life before politics ...

David Lange David Russell Lange ( ; 4 August 1942 – 13 August 2005) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 32nd prime minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. Lange was born and brought up in Otahuhu, the son of a medical doctor. He became ...

's Labour Government. From 1998 to 2001, Varnham was a Wellington City Councillor. In

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

she stood for

Mayor of Wellington The Mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of the City of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representati ...

, but was unsuccessful, finishing second behind deputy mayor

Kerry Prendergast Dame Kerry Leigh Prendergast (née Ferrier, born 28 March 1953) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 33rd Mayor of Wellington between 2001 and 2010, succeeding Mark Blumsky. She was the second woman to hold the position, after Fran Wil ...

. In 2003, Varnham established Awa Press, a publishing company focusing on non-fiction works by New Zealand and overseas writers. She edited Peter Adds' book ''The Transit of Venus,'' which was shortlisted for the

Montana New Zealand Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder W ...

in the Reference & Anthology Category in 2008.

Publications

* Varnham, M., & Woodford House (Havelock North, N.Z.). (1994). ''Beyond blue hills: One hundred years of Woodford House''. Havelock North, N.Z: Woodford House. *Kedgley, S. J., & Varnham, M. (1993). ''Heading nowhere in a navy blue suit: And other tales from the feminist revolution''. Wellington, N.Z: Daphne Brasell Associates Press. *Varnham, M. (1979). ''Bhutan: Himalayan Kingdom''. Thimphu: Royal Government of the Kingdom of Bhutan.

Personal life

Varnham married Paul O'Regan, a solicitor, in 1986.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varnham, Mary 1946 births Living people New Zealand publishers (people) People educated at Woodford House People educated at Wellington East Girls' College University of Otago alumni Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand politicians Wellington City Councillors People from Paekākāriki