Majella Cullinane, born in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

, Ireland is an author based in New Zealand.

Background

Born and raised in Ireland, Cullinane became a New Zealand resident in 2008. She has a MLitt. in Creative Writing from the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, Scotland, and completed a PhD in Creative Practice at the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

. Her doctoral advisors were Vincent O'Sullivan and Liam McIlvanney. She currently lives in

Port Chalmers Port Chalmers () is a town serving as the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre. History Early Māori settlement The or ...

, New Zealand. Cullinane draws inspiration for her work from myths and history, with her poems exploring nature and dreams, real and imagined people. Her collection ''Guarding the Flame'' takes its title from the myth surrounding Saint Bridgid’s flame in Kildare.

Works

* ''Guarding the Flame'' (Salmon Poetry, 2011), collection of poetry * ''The Life of De'Ath'' (Steele Roberts Aotearoa, 2018), novel * ''Whisper of a Crow's Wing'' (Salmon Poetry and Otago University Press, 2018) * ''Meantime'' (Otago University Press, 2024)

Awards

Her first novel,''The Life of De'Ath'', was shortlisted for the 2016 Dundee International Book Prize. and longlisted for the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. In 2014 she was awarded the

Robert Burns Fellowship The Robert Burns Fellowship is a New Zealand literary residency. Established in 1958 to coincide with bicentennial celebrations of the birth of Robert Burns, it is often claimed to be New Zealand's premier literary residency. The list of past ...

, a literary residency at the

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 ...

, New Zealand. Cullinane has also received a Seán Dunne Young Writers' Awards for Poetry, an Irish Arts Council Award and the Hennessy XO/Irish Times Literary Award for Emerging Poetry.

Background

Works

Awards

References

Further reading