Jane Tolerton (born 24 April 1957) is a New Zealand biographer, journalist and historian.

Biography

Tolerton was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

and attended the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, completing a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in history and American studies and a Diploma in Journalism. After graduating, she worked as a newspaper reporter and magazine feature writer, winning the Dulux News Award and the Cowan Prize for historical journalism. In 1987, Tolerton worked with Nicholas Boyack to set up the World War I Oral History Archive while at the Stout Research Centre at

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 ...

, and interviewed 85 war veterans about their experiences. The average age of the veterans was 90 and many had served in Gallipoli, the Somme, Passchendaele, and Palestine. She told their stories in later books, including ''An Awfully Big Adventure'', which was named on the ''

New Zealand Listener The ''New Zealand Listener'' is a weekly New Zealand magazine that covers the political, cultural and literary life of New Zealand by featuring a variety of topics, including current events, politics, social issues, health, technology, arts, f ...

''’s list of 100 best books of 2013. In 1993, her biography of

Ettie Rout Ettie Annie Rout (24 February 1877 – 17 September 1936) was a Tasmanian-born New Zealander whose work among servicemen in Paris and the Somme during World War I made her a war hero among the French, yet through the same events she became ''pe ...

won the New Zealand Book Award for non-fiction and the PEN best first book prize. In 1996 she was writer in residence at Victoria University of Wellington. In 2008 and 2009, Tolerton wrote for '' Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand''. In 2014, Tolerton received a grant of $12,000 from The New Zealand History Research Trust Fund to research the role that New Zealand women played overseas in World War I. The following year, she was awarded a

Churchill Fellowship Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

to travel to the United Kingdom to gather further information for the same project. her book on the topic, ''Make Her Praises Heard Afar'', was published in 2017. In the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, Tolerton was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have r ...

, for services to historical research.

Publications

* ''In the Shadow of War; New Zealand Soldiers Talk about World War One and Their Lives'' (co-editor with Nicholas Boyack,1990) * ''Ettie: A Life of Ettie Rout'' (Penguin Books, 1992) * ''Convent Girls'' (Penguin Books, 1994) * ''60s Chicks Hit the Nineties'' (1996) * ''It's Time We Started Telling These Stories'' (2008) * ''An Awfully Big Adventure: New Zealand World War One veterans tell their stories from the interviews'' (Penguin Books, 2013) * ''Ettie Rout: New Zealand’s safer sex pioneer'' (Penguin Books, 2015) * ''Make Her Praises Heard Afar: New Zealand women overseas in World War One'' (Booklovers Books, 2017) * ''But I Changed All That:'First' New Zealand Women'' (Booklovers Books, 2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolerton, Jane 1957 births Living people Writers from Auckland New Zealand biographers New Zealand women biographers New Zealand women historians University of Canterbury alumni New Zealand journalists Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit 20th-century New Zealand historians 21st-century New Zealand historians