Sue Wootton (born 1961) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

writer, specialising in poetry and short fiction.

Biography

Wootton was born 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 ...

in 1961, and spent much of her early life in

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

before moving to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, where she attended 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 ...

and has worked as a physiotherapist.Wootton, Sue
, New Zealand Book Council, 12 November 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2015. Wootton received a

Bachelor of Arts 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 ...

degree in English literature in 2003, and published her first selection of poetry, ''Hourglass'', in 2005. In 2008, Wootton was awarded the

Robert Burns Fellowship The Robert Burns Fellowship is a New Zealand literary residency. Established in 1958 to coincide with bicentennial celebrations of the birth of Robert Burns, it is often claimed to be New Zealand's premier literary residency. The list of past ...

by the University of Otago.The Robert Burns Fellowship - Previous Recipients
, University of Otago. Retrieved 6 March 2015. Other awards won by Wootton include the 2007 Inverawe Poetry Competition in Tasmania, the 2010 New Zealand Poetry Society International Poetry competition, and the 2013 Cancer Council Victoria Arts Awards poetry prize. Wootton was runner-up in the BNZ Katherine Mansfield short story awards in 2009 and 2010, and a finalist in the 2008 ''

The Sunday Star-Times The ''Sunday Star-Times'' is a New Zealand newspaper published each weekend in Auckland. It covers both national and international news, and is a member of the New Zealand Press Association and Newspaper Publishers Association of New Zealand. ...

'' short story competition.Wootton's website
/ref> Her works have appeared in numerous poetry anthologies and other publications, among them ''Under Flagstaff: An Anthology of Dunedin Poetry'' (University of Otago Press, 2004), ''

Landfall Landfall is the event of a storm moving over land after being over water. More broadly, and in relation to human travel, it refers to 'the first land that is reached or seen at the end of a journey across the sea or through the air, or the fact ...

'', ''Swings and Roundabouts: Poems on Parenthood'' (Random House, 2008), and ''Poetry Pudding'' (Reed, 2007). Three short stories by Wootton appeared in the anthology ''The Happiest Music on Earth'' (Rosa Mira Books, 2013). ''Strip'', her first novel, was published by

Mākaro Press Mākaro Press is a New Zealand publisher based in Wellington. It was founded in 2013 and has published several award-winning books including ''Auē'' by Becky Manawatu. History Mākaro was founded in 2013 by novelist and editor Mary McCallum ...

in 2016. ''Strip'' was longlisted in th
2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards
She was the recipient of the 2018

NZSA Peter & Dianne Beatson Fellowship The NZSA Peter & Dianne Beatson Fellowship (known informally as the Foxton Fellowship) is an annual literary fellowship in New Zealand established by Peter and Dianne Beatson in 2001. History and conditions The fellowship was set up by Peter and ...

and the 2020

Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship The Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship, formerly known as the New Zealand Post Katherine Mansfield Prize and the Meridian Energy Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship, is one of New Zealand's foremost literary awards. Named after Katherin ...

Books

Poetry

*''Hourglass'' (Steele Roberts, 2005) *''Magnetic South'' (Steele Roberts, 2008) *''By Birdlight'' (Steele Roberts, 2011) *
Out of Shape
' (Ampersand Duck, 2013) *
The Yield
' (Otago University Press, 2017)

Fiction

*
Strip
' (Mākaro Press, 2016)

Short fiction

*''The Happiest Music on Earth'' (Rosa Mira Books, 2013) *''Cloudcatcher'' (Steele Roberts, 2010)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wootton, Sue 1961 births Living people Writers from Dunedin New Zealand women short story writers New Zealand poets