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. It is sited on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authorities of New Zea ...

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

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. In 2003 the film rights were sold to Australian production company

Mushroom Pictures Mushroom Pictures is an Australian film production and distribution company that 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 w ...

, although as of 2021 no film has been made. In 2004 he was the recipient of the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship. 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. In 2017, Scottish writer Duncan McLean noted Marriner's long absence from publishing, and said he hoped that Marriner would return. In McLean's view, ''Southern Style'' was a stronger novel than his first, but "no one seems to have written much about it". In 2018, Marriner published a short meta-fiction story with ''

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 ...

'', under the title "Exclusive: The return of Craig Marriner, the lost genius of New Zealand writing".

Style

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

art house An art film, arthouse film, or specialty film is 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 prima ...

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

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

and Hunter S Thompson, as well as journalist

Robert Fisk Robert William Fisk (12 July 194630 October 2020) was an English writer and journalist. He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. As an international correspo ...

and

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

theorist

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

. His writing style has been compared to Scottish novelist

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

References

External links

Marriner's profile at Read NZ Te Pou Muramura

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

'', 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