Joan Druett is a New Zealand historian and novelist, specialising in maritime history and crime fiction.

Life

Joan Druett was born in

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, and raised 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 ...

, moving to New Zealand's capital city,

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 ...

, when she was 16. She gained her Bachelor of Arts in English literature from the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kno ...

, and then worked as a teacher of biology and English literature for many years before publishing her first full-length book when she was 40. She travelled extensively in her 20s – including to Canada, where she lived for a while, Britain and the Middle East. She went to America as a Fulbright Scholar in 1986, and returned there in 1992 as historian/writer for a museum exhibit, "The Sailing Circle: Seafaring Women of New York," living in Orient, Long Island, where she and her husband, Ron, a maritime artist, were artists in residence at the William Steeple Davis Trust house and studio. While Ron painted and exhibited at galleries such as

Mystic Seaport Mystic Seaport Museum or Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea in Mystic, Connecticut is the largest maritime museum in the United States. It is notable for its collection of sailing ships and boats and for the re-creation of the cra ...

Gallery, she researched and wrote historical novels and books on maritime history. In late 1996, she and Ron returned to New Zealand, and set up house in Wellington in 1997. In 2001, she was the John David Stout Fellow at the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies, Victoria University, and is still an associate. She is married to Ron Druett and has two sons, with also six grandchildren.author's website biography
/ref> Ron is a well-regarded maritime artist and has illustrated many of her histories.Dann (2007) p. 16

Writing career

While her first novel wasn't published until she was 40 years old, Druett always wanted to write and had written professionally from her teen years.Dann (2007) p. 15 She wrote science fiction stories for American magazines, and stories for a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

magazine using the pseudonym Jo Friday. She also did some freelance travel-writing. Her first book, ''Exotic Intruders'', was the result of a publisher's request for a book about the introduction to New Zealand of plants and animals by sailing ships. Since then she has written extensively in maritime history – particularly looking at wives at sea – and also historical and maritime novels. In her later career, she has become best known for her Wiki novels, historical mysteries with a half-Maori seaman protagonist named Wiki Coffin. The Wiki character grew out of her research into real people, including descriptions of a Maori sailor in a midshipman's journal from the first half of the nineteenth century. In addition to the novels, Druett has also published several short stories featuring Wiki Coffin in ''

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''.

Awards

* c.1983: Hubert Church Award for ''Exotic Intruders'' * c.1983:

PEN A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

Award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

for Best First Book of Prose in New Zealand for ''Exotic Intruders'' * 1986: Fulbright Award to carry out research at museums in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

and Hawaii * 1992: John Lyman Award for Best Book of American Maritime History for ''Petticoat Whalers: Whaling Wives at Sea, 1820–1920'' * 1998: New York Public Library's 25 Best Books to Remember for ''Hen Frigates: Wives of Merchant Captains Under Sail'' * 2000: L. Byrne Waterman Award, for contributions to maritime history and women's history * 2001: John David Stout Fellow, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand * 2012: NZPost Best General Non-Fiction Book Award, for '' Tupaia: the Remarkable Story of Captain Cook's Polynesian Navigator''

Selected works

Non-fiction

* (1983) ''Exotic Intruders: The Introduction of Plants and Animals to New Zealand''. Auckland, NZ: Heinemann. * (1988) ''Fulbright in New Zealand''. Wellington, NZ: NZ-US Educational Foundation. * (1991) ''Petticoat Whalers: Whaling Wives at Sea''. Auckland, NZ: Collins * (1992) ''She Was a Sister Sailor, the Whaling Journals of Mary Brewster, 1845–1851''. Mystic Seaport Museum * (1995) ''Captain's Daughter, Coasterman's Wife: Carrie Hubbard Davis of Orient''. Orient, NY: Oysterponds Historical Society * (1995) ''The Sailing Circle, 19th Century Seafaring Women from New York''. (With Mary Anne Wallace.) Long Island: Three Village Historical Society & Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum * (1998) ''Hen Frigates, Wives of Merchant Captains Under Sail''. New York:

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

* (2000) ''She Captains, Heroines and Hellions of the Sea''. New York: Simon & Schuster. * (2001) ''Rough Medicine: Surgeons at Sea Under Sail''. New York and London:

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...

* (2003) ''In the Wake of Madness, the Murderous Voyage of the Whaleship Sharon''. New York:

Algonquin Books Workman Publishing Company, Inc., is an American publisher of trade books founded by Peter Workman. The company is comprised of either imprints: Workman, Workman Children’s, Workman Calendars, Artisan, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill and Algon ...

; Auckland:

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

* (2007) ''Island of the Lost, Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World''. New York: Algonquin; Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin * (2010) '' Tupaia: Captain Cook's Polynesian Navigator''. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger; (2011) Auckland, New Zealand:

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, * (2014) ''Eleanor's Odyssey: Journal of the Captain's Wife on the East Indiaman Friendship, 1799-1801''. Old Salt Press. * (2015) ''Lady Castaways''. Old Salt Press.

Fiction

Wiki Coffin series

Historical crime series set during the

United States Exploring Expedition The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby ...

through the Pacific Ocean by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

1838–1842. * ''A Watery Grave'', 2004 * ''Shark Island'', 2005 * ''Run Afoul'', 2006 * ''Deadly Shoals'', 2007 * "Brethren of the Sea" ( AHMM, November 2004) * "Fallen" ( AHMM, January/February 2006) * ''The Beckoning Ice'', 2013,

Other fiction

* ''Abigail'' * ''A promise of Gold'' * ''Murder at the Brian Boru''

Notes

References

External links

* http://www.joan.druett.gen.nz {{DEFAULTSORT:Druett, Joan Historians of the Pacific Historical novelists Living people New Zealand women historians New Zealand maritime historians New Zealand women novelists Victoria University of Wellington alumni 1939 births New Zealand crime fiction writers New Zealand mystery writers 20th-century New Zealand novelists 21st-century New Zealand novelists 21st-century New Zealand women writers Women crime fiction writers Writers of historical mysteries 20th-century New Zealand women writers 20th-century New Zealand historians 21st-century New Zealand historians