Mikaela Nyman (born 1966) is a Finnish-New Zealand novelist, poet, journalist and editor. After an early career in journalism and non-fiction work, she published her first poetry collection (in Swedish) in 2019 and her first novel (in English) in 2020. The former resulted in her being nominated for the

Nordic Council Literature Prize The Nordic Council Literature Prize is awarded for a work of literature written in one of the languages of the Nordic countries, that meets "high literary and artistic standards". Established in 1962, the prize is awarded every year, and is worth ...

. Her work has been published in various anthologies and journals, and she was the co-editor of the first anthology of Vanuatu women's writing.

Life and career

Born in Åland in Finland in 1966, Nyman's first language was Swedish. She is a granddaughter of Finnish writer . She worked as a journalist early in her career and in 1995 wrote a biography of a Finnish woman who established a newspaper in Kasaï called ''Tankar: Hildegard Mangelus liv''. In the late 1990s Nyman worked at the College of Labour Studies in Zimbabwe. Nyman moved to New Zealand in 2002, and from 2004 to 2016 worked as a teacher of English to non-native speakers and worked in the international humanitarian and development space. During this time, she lived in Vanuatu for four years running an aid programme. In 2006 she published the non-fiction book ''Democratizing Indonesia: The challenges of civil society in the era of reformasi''. In 2011, she gained a master's degree in creative writing with distinction 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 Victoria University of Wellington, and followed this with a doctorate in creative writing in 2020. In 2019, her first poetry collection, ''När vändkrets läggs mot vändkrets'', dealing with the death of her sister and her challenges moving between two cultures, was published in Swedish. She was nominated for the

in 2020 as a result of this work. In 2019 she also received an award for short story writing in the

Ronald Hugh Morrieson Ronald Hugh Morrieson (29 January 1922 – 26 December 1972) was a novelist and short story writer in the New Zealand vernacular, who was little known in his home country until after his death. He earned his living as a musician and music teacher ...

Literary Awards. Her first novel, ''Sado'' (2020), published by Victoria University Press, is set during and after the 2015 Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu. It formed part of her PhD thesis under her supervisors

Damien Wilkins Damien Lamont Wilkins (born January 11, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player and basketball executive who played in the National Basketball Association for ten seasons. He is the General Manager and Head of Basketball at Ov ...

Teresia Teaiwa Teresia Teaiwa (born Teresia Kieuea Teaiwa; 12 August 1968 – 21 March 2017), was a distinguished award winning I-Kiribati and African-American scholar, poet, activist and mentor. Teaiwa was well-regarded for her ground-breaking work in Paci ...

and Pala Molisa. Reviewer Steve Walker for ''

Stuff Stuff, stuffed, and stuffing may refer to: *Physical matter *General, unspecific things, or entities Arts, media, and entertainment Books *''Stuff'' (1997), a novel by Joseph Connolly (author), Joseph Connolly *''Stuff'' (2005), a book by Jere ...

'' described the novel as "both timely and timeless" and said Nyman "forces us to understand rather than judge". It was published in March 2020 as New Zealand went into a COVID-19 lockdown. Her work has been published in various anthologies and journals including ''Ko Aotearoa Tātou , We Are New Zealand'' (2020), ''Strong Words 2019: The Best of the Landfall Essay Competition'' and ''Sport''. Together with co-editor Rebecca Tobo Olul-Hossen she edited ''Sista, Stanap Strong'', the first anthology of Vanuatu women's writing, published by Victoria University Press in 2021, which she says has become part of the Vanuatu high school curriculum. In 2021, she was awarded a Creative New Zealand grant to work on a poetry collection in English and to offer community writing classes. In the same year, she was the visiting artist/writer in residence for

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

, Palmerston North and Square Edge Community Arts Centre. , she is based in

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

and is the Taranaki regional representative for the

New Zealand Society of Authors The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN New Zealand Inc.) promotes and protects the interests of New Zealand writers. It was founded as the New Zealand PEN Centre (Poets, Essays and Novelists) in 1934. It broadened its scope and became the New Ze ...

. In September 2023, she was awarded the Robert Burns Fellowship for 2024, and said she planned to use the time on the residency writing her second novel.

Selected works

* ''Tankar: Hildegard Mangelus liv'', Abacus (Swedish, non-fiction, 1995) * ''Democratizing Indonesia: The challenges of civil society in the era of reformasi'', NIAS Press (English, non-fiction, 2006) * ''När vändkrets läggs mot vändkrets'', (Swedish, poetry collection, 2019) * ''Sado'', Victoria University Press (English, novel, 2020) * ''Sista, Stanap Strong'', Victoria University Press (English, co-editor of anthology, 2021)

References

External links

Author profile
on

Read NZ Te Pou Muramura Read NZ Te Pou Muramura (formerly the New Zealand Book Council) is a not-for-profit organisation that presents a wide range of programmes to promote books and reading in New Zealand. History It was established in 1972 as a response to UNESCO's ...

PhD graduate profile
at the

"Kava i kik"
poem in English by Nyman published in ''Turbine , Kapohau'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Nyman, Mikaela 1966 births Living people Writers from Åland Finnish emigrants to New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand women writers 20th-century New Zealand non-fiction writers 20th-century Finnish women writers 20th-century Finnish non-fiction writers 21st-century New Zealand poets 21st-century Finnish poets 21st-century New Zealand women writers 21st-century New Zealand non-fiction writers 21st-century Finnish women writers 21st-century Finnish non-fiction writers New Zealand women journalists New Zealand women novelists New Zealand women poets International Institute of Modern Letters alumni Finnish writers in Swedish Finnish poets in Swedish