Emma Hislop is a New Zealand short story writer. Her 2023 collection of short stories, ''Ruin'', won the Hubert Church Best First Book Award for fiction at the 2024

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 Wa ...

Life and career

Hislop is of Kāi Tahu descent and grew up in the

Far North District The Far North District is the northernmost Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority district of New Zealand, consisting of the northern part of the Northland Peninsula in the North Island. It stretches from North Cape (New ...

. When she was 13 her family moved to

Taranaki Taranaki is a regions of New Zealand, region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the ...

; she moved to London in her twenties and returned to New Zealand in 2006. she lives in Taranaki. She completed her master's degree in creative writing at 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 ...

in 2013. Her supervisor for her master's was

Emily Perkins Emily Jean Perkins (born May 4, 1977) is a Canadian actress, known for her roles as Crystal Braywood in the TV series ''Hiccups'', young Beverly Marsh in '' Stephen King's It'', and Brigitte Fitzgerald in '' Ginger Snaps''. Since the late 1980s ...

. During her course she began working on the manuscript for ''Ruin''. Hislop's collection of short stories, ''Ruin'', was published by

Te Herenga Waka 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 ...

in 2023. Hislop has said that the stories "changed significantly" over the ten years between her master's course and publication, but that "the glimmer of truth always stayed the same". The cover artist for the book was Maiangi Waitai.

Airini Beautrais Airini Jane Beautrais (born 1982) is a poet and short-story writer from New Zealand. Background Beautrais was born in 1982 and grew up in Auckland and Whanganui. She studied creative writing and ecological science at the Victoria University o ...

, reviewing the work for ''

Landfall Landfall is the event of a storm moving over land after being over water. More broadly, and in relation to human travel, it refers to 'the first land that is reached or seen at the end of a journey across the sea or through the air, or the fact ...

'', said the book "is not a feel-good book, but a good book for exploring uncomfortable things". In 2023 Hislop successfully sought crowd-funding to support her work on her planned first novel, and spoke to the ''

Taranaki Daily News The ''Taranaki Daily News'' is a daily morning newspaper published in New Plymouth, New Zealand. History The paper was founded as the ''Taranaki News'' on 14 May 1857, by friends of former Taranaki Province Superintendent Charles Brown.J.S. ...

'' to advocate for a

universal basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a minimum income in the form of an unconditional transfer payment, i.e., without a means test or need to perform Work (hu ...

for artists.

Honours and awards

In 2023 Hislop held writer's residencies at Robert Lord Writers’ Cottage in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

and at

Varuna, The Writers' House Varuna, The National Writers’ House is Australia's national residential writers' house located in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia. The former home of writers Eleanor and Eric Dark, it was gifted to the Australia ...

in Sydney. In May 2024 she was announced as one of six recipients of the

Arts Foundation of New Zealand The Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi is a New Zealand arts organisation that supports artistic excellence and facilitates private philanthropy through raising funds for the arts and allocating it to New Zealand artists. The foundatio ...

Springboard awards. The prize for the award was $15,000 and a mentorship from

Patricia Grace Patricia Frances Grace (; born 17 August 1937) is a New Zealand writer of novels, short stories, and children's books. She began writing as a young adult, while working as a teacher. Her early short stories were published in magazines, leadin ...

. In 2024 ''Ruin'' won the Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction at the

. The category convenor said that Hislop's stories demonstrated an "artful control of situation, character, and language to examine the fallout of painful events which largely occur off stage" and that Hislop is a "striking new voice" in New Zealand literature.

Selected works

* ''Ruin'' (short story collection, Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2023)

References

External links

"Previous Selves"
short story by Hislop, published by ''

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'', 11 November 2022
"A Safe Place"
short story by Hislop, published by ''Newsroom'', 23 June 2023 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hislop, Emma Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Ngāi Tahu people People from the Northland Region People from Taranaki 21st-century New Zealand women writers 21st-century New Zealand short story writers International Institute of Modern Letters alumni Victoria University of Wellington alumni