Craig Marriner (born 1974) is a novelist from

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

, New Zealand. He is best known for his award-winning first novel ''

Stonedogs ''Stonedogs'' is the first novel by New Zealand writer Craig Marriner. It was published in 2001 and has won a Montana New Zealand Book Awards, Montana New Zealand Book Award. The book has been described as "a kind of ''A Clockwork Orange (novel), ...

'' (2001).

Early life

Marriner was born in Rotorua and had what he describes as a "strictly working-class background"; his father was a forestry worker until he was made redundant. Marriner left high school before completing his final year, describing himself as being "on the edge of the rails by then". He moved to the remote town of

Mount Magnet, Western Australia Mount Magnet is a town in the Mid West region of Western Australia. It is one of the region's original gold mining towns, and the longest surviving gold mining settlement in the state. The prominent hill that is adjacent to the current townsite w ...

with the intention of getting a mining job, and worked doing geological sampling. He subsequently spend four years working in Europe.

Career

Marriner's debut novel ''Stonedogs'' (2001) won the Deutz Medal for Fiction, the Fiction Prize and the NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction at the 2002

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 2003 the film rights were sold to Australian production company

Mushroom Pictures Mushroom Pictures is an Australian film production and distribution company which is part of the Mushroom Records group. It was formed in 1993 in association with Regular Records to produce music related documentaries. In 1995 they announced they ...

, although as of 2021 no film has been made. In 2004 he was the recipient of the

Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship Frank Sargeson () (born Norris Frank Davey; 23 March 1903 – 1 March 1982) was a New Zealand short story writer and novelist. Born in Hamilton, Sargeson had a middle-class and puritanical upbringing, and initially worked as a lawyer. After ...

. His second novel ''Southern Style'' was published in 2006. At the time he was said to have been working on a third novel about a group of backpackers trekking through Europe during the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

Style

In 2001 Marriner described himself as wanting to be seen as "a Kiwi

art house An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

youth culture-type writer". He cited his influences as

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

and Hunter S Thompson, as well as journalist

Robert Fisk Robert Fisk (12 July 194630 October 2020) was a writer and journalist who held British and Irish citizenship. He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. His stanc ...

and

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

theorist

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

. His writing style has been compared to Scottish novelist

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short fil ...

References

External links

Marriner's profile at Read NZ Te Pou Muramura

Review of ''Stonedogs''
by Duncan McLean for ''

The Spinoff ''The Spinoff'' is a New Zealand online magazine and news website that was founded in 2014. It is known for current affairs coverage, political and social analysis, and cultural commentary. It earns money through commercial sponsorship and su ...

'', 30 November 2017 1974 births Living people New Zealand male novelists People from Rotorua 21st-century New Zealand novelists 21st-century New Zealand male writers {{NewZealand-writer-stub