Ashleigh Young (born 1983) is a poet, essayist, editor and creative writing teacher. She received the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize in 2017 for her second book, a collection of personal essays titled ''Can You Tolerate This?'' which also won the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Life

Young was born in 1983 in

Te Kūiti Te Kūiti is a town in the north of the King Country region of the North Island of New Zealand. It lies at the junction of New Zealand State Highway 3, State Highways 3 and New Zealand State Highway 30, 30 and on the North Island Main Trunk rail ...

and grew up there and in

Wellington Wellington 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 third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. Writing featured in her life from childhood, when she wrote and illustrated a series of small books, started a magazine, created her own bedroom library, and (with her brothers) made movies with a borrowed video camera. She lived in London for several years and also worked for a year as director of the

Katherine Mansfield House and Garden Katherine Mansfield House and Garden (formerly known as Katherine Mansfield Birthplace) was the early childhood home of Katherine Mansfield, a prominent New Zealand author. The building, located in Thorndon, Wellington, is classified as a Cat ...

in Wellington, a house in which "you could step inside and imagine yourself to be a child in another century. She lists some of her favourite New Zealand writers and poets as

Pip Adam Pip Adam is a novelist, short story writer, and reviewer from New Zealand. Background Adam was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. She attended the New Zealand Film and Television School in Christchurch before moving to Dunedin. Adam has an ...

Hera Lindsay Bird Hera Lindsay Bird (born 31 December 1987) is a New Zealand poet. Life and career Hera Lindsay Bird was born and raised in Thames in the North Island of New Zealand. She attended Victoria University of Wellington and then received her Master's d ...

, James Brown, Jenny Bornholdt, Geoff Cochrane and

Bill Manhire William Manhire (born 27 December 1946) is a New Zealand poet, short story writer, emeritus professor, and New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate (1997–1998). He founded New Zealand's first creative writing course at Victoria University of We ...

, as well as newer voices such as Sam Duckor-Jones and

Tayi Tibble Tayi Tibble (born 1995) is a New Zealand poet. Her poetry reflects Māori culture and her own family history. Her first collection of poetry, ''Poūkahangatus'' (2018), received the Jessie Mackay Prize for Poetry at the 2019 Ockham New Zealand B ...

. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Work

In 2009, Young was awarded an MA in creative writing from the

International Institute of Modern Letters The International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML; ) is a centre of creative writing based within Victoria University of Wellington. Founded in 2001, the IIML offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses (including a PhD in creative writing) ...

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

. She won the 2009 Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing for her MA portfolio (which included the essays later to be published in ''Can You Tolerate This?'') and the 2009

Landfall Essay Competition The ''Landfall'' Essay Competition is an annual competition open to New Zealand writers. It is judged by the current editor of the long-running literary magazine ''Landfall'' and the winning entry is published in a subsequent issue of the maga ...

. In 2015 she was a finalist for the

Sarah Broom Poetry Prize The Sarah Broom Poetry Prize is one of New Zealand's most valuable poetry prizes. It was established to celebrate the life and work of New Zealand poet Sarah Broom. The prize was first awarded in 2014. History The Sarah Broom Poetry Prize was e ...

and she was one of the winners of the 2016 Surrey Hotel Steve Braunias Memorial Writers Residency in Association with The Spinoff Award. She took writing workshops with

Kate De Goldi Kate De Goldi (born 1959) is a New Zealand novelist, children's writer and short story writer. Her early work was published under the pseudonym Kate Flannery. Early life De Goldi was born in Christchurch in 1959. She is of mixed Irish and Italia ...

and

Harry Ricketts Harry Ricketts (born 1950) is a poet, biographer, editor, anthologist, critic, academic, literary scholar and cricket writer. He has written biographies of Rudyard Kipling and of a dozen British First World War poets. Life Ricketts was bor ...

and began writing chapter books for Learning Media, which she credits with teaching her editing skills. Her poetry and essays have been widely published in print and online journals, including ''Tell You What: Great New Zealand Nonfiction'', ''Five Dials'' (UK) and ''The Griffith Review'' (Australia). The collection of essays in her second book, ''Can You Tolerate This?,'' have been described as "wry, confessional, understated and often hilarious". The book won the 2017 Windham-Campbell Prize from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, and was described by the judges as "honest, insightful prose" that "offers intimate and playful glimpses of coming of age in small-town New Zealand". Young was the first New Zealander to win this prize. Recipients are not advised that they are being considered for the award, and she had no prior warning before receiving an email to say she had won. She collected her prize at the Windham Campbell Festival at Yale in September 2017. ''Can You Tolerate This?'' also won the

Royal Society Te Apārangi The Royal Society Te Apārangi (in full, Royal Society of New Zealand) is a not-for-profit body in New Zealand providing funding and policy advice in the fields of sciences and the humanities. These fundings (i.e., Marsden grants and research fe ...

Award for General Non-Fiction 2017. In 2018, Young was made an Honorary Literary Fellow in the

New Zealand Society of Authors The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN New Zealand Inc.) promotes and protects the interests of New Zealand writers. It was founded as the New Zealand PEN Centre (Poets, Essays and Novelists) in 1934. It broadened its scope and became the New Ze ...

' Waitangi Day Honours. She has been invited to appear in a number of literary festivals. In 2016, she took part in the Ruapehu Festival, including a session with James Brown and Bill Nelson on Poets Who Cycle. In 2017, she appeared at the

Auckland Writers Festival Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki is the largest annual literary festival in New Zealand since 1999. It has about 200 public events each year featuring local and international writers as guests. History and staff The inaugural festi ...

and the

Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival The Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival (abbreviated as DWRF) is a literary festival held in Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand. Since its inception in 2014, there have been in total six festivals, including a special Celtic Noir event i ...

. In 2018, she appeared at the New Zealand Festival Writers & Readers Week, the Sydney Writers Festival, the Bathurst Writers’ & Readers’ Festival, Adelaide Writers' Week and the Cheltenham Literature Festival. She is an editor at

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 V ...

. She previously co-taught a Science Writing Workshop at Victoria University with Rebecca Priestley. In 2019 she took on the role of poetry editor at The Spinoff Review of Books.

Bibliography

Poetry and essay collections

* (Poetry) * (Essays) * (Poetry)

Poems and essays

*
You Are Now Entering
(''Pantograph Punch'', 2012) (Po) *
A final binding ruling on the correct spelling of the word eh
(''The Spinoff'', 2 Dec 2016) (Essay)

Awards

, 2009 * Macmillan Brown Prize for Writers, 2009 * Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing, 2009 *

, 2015 (finalist) *

Award for General Non-Fiction, 2017: ''Can You Tolerate This?'' * Windham-Campbell Prize, 2017: ''Can You Tolerate This?'' *

Rathbones Folio Prize The Writers' Prize, previously known as the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher Folio Society, The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2 ...

, 2019 (shortlist)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Ashleigh New Zealand writers Living people 1983 births People from Te Kūiti International Institute of Modern Letters alumni New Zealand women writers New Zealand editors New Zealand magazine editors New Zealand women magazine editors