Nigel Cox (13 January 1951 – 28 July 2006) was a New Zealand author and

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

director, with five novels published as of early 2006.

Childhood and early career

Born in 1951 in Pahiatua, Cox grew up in the

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...

and

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

area. He worked in various jobs up until 1977; in the words of his author page on the

Victoria University Press Te Herenga Waka University Press or THWUP (formerly Victoria University Press) is the book publishing arm of Victoria University of Wellington, located in Wellington, New Zealand. As of 2022, the press had published around 800 books. History Vi ...

website, "His early working life reads like an author trying to find his way: advertising account executive, assembly line worker at Ford, deck hand, coalman, door-to-door turkey salesman, driver." Later, between 1977 and 1993, he worked as a bookseller in Auckland and Wellington.

First novels

His first two novels, ''Waiting for Einstein'' (1984) and '' Dirty Work'' (1987) were both written while he was working in bookstores in

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Both these novels have

settings. For ''Dirty Work'', Cox was awarded the Bucklands Memorial Literary Prize in 1988, as well as the 1991

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebra ...

Memorial Fellowship. From 1995, he took up work as senior writer at the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

. He published a number of articles during this time, but did not produce any new novels.

2000–2006

As of the publication of '' Skylark Lounge'' in 2000, Cox had not published a new novel since ''Dirty Work'', thirteen years previously. The same year, he left New Zealand to join

Ken Gorbey Kenneth Coulton Gorbey (born 1942) is a New Zealand museum director and consultant. He has designed and created exhibitions at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Jewish Museum Berlin. Early life Gorbey was born in 1942 and g ...

, his colleague at Te Papa, on the project team at the

Jewish Museum Berlin The Jewish Museum Berlin (''Jüdisches Museum Berlin'') was opened in 2001 and is the largest Jewish museum in Europe. On of floor space, the museum presents the history of Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present day, with new focuses ...

. In 2001 he became the museum's Head of Exhibitions and Communications. While in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Cox completed his fourth novel, '' Tarzan Presley'' (2004). The book was notable for fusing the life story of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

and the fictional character

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

into a single original narrative. The book was nominated in the fiction category of 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 2005, where it was judged runner-up, despite being embroiled in

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

controversy in the United States. Cox returned to New Zealand in March 2005, rejoining Te Papa as Director – Experience. His fifth novel, '' Responsibility'' (2005), set in

, combined elements from noir and

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

fiction with a comedic edge. It was runner-up in the 2006

. In 2006, ''Dirty Work'' was republished by

. On 28 July 2006, just four days after attending the

where he was the Fiction runner-up, he died due to

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

which he had had for some time. He was working on the final draft of a sixth novel, ''The Cowboy Dog'', when he died. It was published in November 2006.

Novels

*''Waiting for Einstein'' (1984) *'' Dirty Work'' (1987) *''Skylark Lounge'' (2000) *''Tarzan Presley'' (2004) *'' Responsibility'' (2005) *''The Cowboy Dog'' (2006)

References

External links