Maurice Francis Richard Shadbolt (4 June 1932 – 10 October 2004) was a New Zealand writerRobinson and Wattie 1998 and occasional playwright.

Biography

Shadbolt was born 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 ...

, and was the eldest of three children. He had a younger brother and sister, Peter and Julia. Shadbolt was educated at Te Kuiti High School,

Avondale College Avondale College is a state coeducational secondary school located in the central Auckland, New Zealand, suburb of Avondale. With a roll of students from Years 9–13 (ages 12–18), it is the third largest secondary school in New Zealand. ...

and

Auckland University College , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

. Shadbolt began writing for local West Auckland community newspapers. In the 1960s, he moved to

Titirangi Titirangi is a suburb of West Auckland in the Waitākere Ranges local board area of the city of Auckland in northern New Zealand. It is an affluent, residential suburb located 13 kilometres (8 miles) to the southwest of the Auckland city centre ...

with his family, buying a house that overlooked Little Muddy Creek, where he spent the next 42 years writing. In total, Shadbolt wrote 11 novels, four collections of short stories, two autobiographies, a war history, and a volume of journalism, as well as plays. He won the

Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award The Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award was a competition for short stories in New Zealand which ran every two years from 1959 to 2003 and every year from 2004 to 2014. The competition had multiple categories, including an essay section until 19 ...

for a short story three times: in 1963, 1967 and 1995. His first collection of short stories, ''The New Zealanders'', was published in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. His most famous book is probably ''

Season of the Jew ''Season of the Jew'' is an historical novel by Maurice Shadbolt, published in 1987. Set in mid-nineteenth-century New Zealand, it is a semi-fictionalized account of the story of the Māori leader Te Kooti, told from the perspective of one of hi ...

'' (1987), which recounts the story of

Te Kooti Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki (c. 1832–1893) was a Māori leader, the founder of the Ringatū religion and guerrilla fighter. While fighting alongside government forces against the Hauhau in 1865, he was accused of spying. Exiled to the Cha ...

. In the 1989 New Year Honours, Shadbolt was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

,for services to literature. Shadbolt suffered from what was thought to be Alzheimer's disease, which during his autopsy was found to be

Lewy body dementia Lewy body dementias are two similar and common subtypes of dementia—dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD). Both are characterized by changes in thinking, movement, behavior, and mood. The two conditions have si ...

. He died on 10 October 2004 in a Taumarunui rest home, surrounded by his children. Shadbolt had five children: Sean, Brendan and twins Tui and Daniel from his first marriage, to journalist and author Gillian Heming, and Brigid from his second marriage, to television presenter Barbara Magner. Shadbolt was also married to actress

Bridget Armstrong Bridget Armstrong (born 1937, Dunedin) is a New Zealand actress. She appeared on stage, film and TV several times, including '' The Lost Tribe (The Goodies)''; as Nurse Rosemary Layton, in the ''Edgar Wallace Mysteries'' ' episode, ''We Shall See' ...

. His cousin

Tim Shadbolt Sir Timothy Richard Shadbolt (born 19 February 1947) is a New Zealand politician. He was the Mayor of Invercargill and previously Mayor of Waitemata City. Early life Shadbolt was born in the Auckland suburb of Remuera in 1947. His father died ...

was

Mayor of Invercargill The Mayor of Invercargill is the head of the municipal government of Invercargill, New Zealand, and leads the Invercargill City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system every three years. The current m ...

for nearly 20 years until 2022.

Bibliography

His works were often published in the UK and United States as well as in New Zealand, sometimes in different years. Dates are for the first appearance. *''New Zealanders: a Sequence of Stories'' (1959). *''Western Samoa: The Pacific's Newest Nation'' (1962). *''Summer Fires and Winter Country'' (short stories, 1963). *''New Zealand: Gift of the Sea'' (1963, revised 1973). *''Among the Cinders'' (1965, revised 1984). A film version was released in 1983. *''The Presence of Music: Three Novellas'' (1967). *''New Zealand's Cook Islands: Paradise in Search of a Future'' (1967). *''The Shell Guide to New Zealand'' (1968, revised 1973). *''Isles of the South Pacific'' (1968). *''This Summer's Dolphin'' (1969). Short novel inspired by the story of

Opo the dolphin Opo was a bottlenose dolphin who became famous throughout New Zealand during the summer of 1955/56 for playing with the children of the small town of Opononi on the Hokianga harbour. Opo was a wild dolphin that started following fishing boats aro ...

. *''An Ear of the Dragon'' (1971). Fictional novel based on the life of Renato Amato. *''Strangers and Journeys'' (1972). *''A Touch of Clay'' (1974). Part one of a projected trilogy. *''Danger Zone'' (1975). Part two of the unfinished trilogy. *''Love and legend: Some 20th century New Zealanders'' (1976). *''Figures in Light: Selected Stories'' (1979). *'' The Lovelock Version'' (1980). *''

'' (1986). Part one of the New Zealand Wars trilogy. *''Guide to New Zealand'' (1988). *''Voices of Galipoli'' (television documentary, 1988). *''

Monday's Warriors ''Monday's Warriors'' is a 1990 historical novel by New Zealand author Maurice Shadbolt. Part two of his New Zealand Wars trilogy. Set in mid-nineteenth century New Zealand, the story is a semi-fictionalized account of Titokowaru's War, told f ...

'' (1990). Part two of the New Zealand Wars trilogy. *''Once on Chunuk Bair'' (1982), a play. A film version '' Chunuk Bair'' was released in 1991. *''The House of Strife'' (1993). Part three of the New Zealand Wars trilogy. *''One of Ben's: A New Zealand Medley'' (autobiography, 1993). *''Ending the Silences: Critical Essays'' (1994) *''Dove on the Waters'' (novellas, 1996). *''Selected Stories of Maurice Shadbolt'', edited by Ralph Crane (1998). *''From the Edge of the Sky: A Memoir'' (1999).

References

* Robinson, Roger and Nelson Wattie (eds.). ''The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature''. Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press, 1998. .

External links

Maurice Shadbolt at the New Zealand Book Council

Shadbolts bibliography in the Auckland University Library
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shadbolt, Maurice 1932 births 2004 deaths New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deaths from dementia in New Zealand Deaths from Alzheimer's disease New Zealand male novelists 20th-century New Zealand novelists New Zealand male short story writers New Zealand memoirists 20th-century New Zealand dramatists and playwrights New Zealand male dramatists and playwrights People educated at Avondale College 20th-century New Zealand short story writers 20th-century New Zealand male writers 20th-century New Zealand journalists 20th-century memoirists People educated at Te Kuiti High School

Biography

Bibliography

See also

References

External links