Sarah Laing (born 1973) is a New Zealand author, graphic novelist and graphic designer.

Background

Laing was born in 1973 in Champaign-Urbana,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, United States and grew up in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

, New Zealand. As a teenager she moved to Wellington and has also lived in Germany, New York, and Auckland. She is currently based 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 metr ...

Career

Laing has a background in graphic design and worked as an illustrator. She completed a master's degree at Unitec in 2016. She illustrated ''Macaroni Moon'', a children's poetry book by

Paula Green Paula Green (September 18, 1927 – December 4, 2015) was an American advertising executive, best known for writing the lyrics to the "Look for the Union Label" song for ILGWU and the Avis motto "We Try Harder". Green was one of the pione ...

. In 2007 she published her first collection of short stories, ''Coming up Roses''. Her first novel, ''Dead People’s Music'', was published in 2009. She is also the author of the short story ebook ''Inside a Pomegranate.'' Following her time at the Sargeson Centre, she wrote and illustrated her second novel, ''The Fall of Light''. In 2016 she published the memoir ''Mansfield and Me: a Graphic Memoir'' (Victoria University Press), using the life and work of

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 ...

to reflect on her own experiences; it was described as "part biography of Katherine Mansfield, part autobiography, and part account of her nagging insecurity about her own abilities." The

Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to '' The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

said of the UK edition (Lightning Books): "Her watercolour-washed drawings delight us." With Rae Joyce and

Indira Neville Indira Neville (born 1973) is a New Zealand comics artist, community organiser, musician and educationalist. She is notable for her work in the Hamilton-based comics collective Oats Comics, her own long running serial comic ''Nice Gravy'' and i ...

, Laing was the co-editor of '' Three Words: An Anthology of Aotearoa/NZ Women's Comics'', published in 2016. In 2019 she published ''Let Me Be Frank'' (Victoria University Press), an anthology of her comics dating back to 2010, in which she documented the breakdown of her marriage. Again, a UK edition was published by Lightning Books.

Awards

In 2006, Laing won the 2006 '' Sunday Star-Times'' Short Story Competition. Laing was a writer in resident at the Michael King Writers Centre in 2008 and 2013. With

Sonja Yelich Sonja Yelich (; born 1965) is a New Zealand poet. She is the mother of pop singer Lorde. Early life Sonja Yelich () was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1965, into an immigrant family from the region of Dalmatia. She studied literature at th ...

she received the 2010 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship. ''Mansfield and Me: a Graphic Memoir'' was long listed in the Illustrated non-fiction category of the 2017

Ockham 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 ...

Work

*''Coming Up Roses'' (short stories), 2007 *''Dead People's Music'', 2009 *''The Fall of Light'', Vintage, 2013, *''Mansfield and Me'', 2016 *'' Three Words: an anthology of Aotearoa/New Zealand Women's Comics'', 2016 *''Let Me Be Frank'', 2019 *''Sylvia and the Birds: How the Bird Lady Saved Birds and How You Can, Too'', 2022

References

External links

Sarah Laing's blog, Let Me Be Frank
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laing, Sarah Living people 1973 births American emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand fiction writers New Zealand women novelists New Zealand comics artists Artists from Wellington City Writers from Wellington City People from Champaign, Illinois New Zealand female comics artists Unitec Institute of Technology alumni