Malla Nunn (born 1963) is a

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

-born

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, film director and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

. Her works include the

murder mysteries "Murder Mysteries" is a fantasy short story by Neil Gaiman first published in the 1992 anthology ''Midnight Graffiti'' and later collected in his short story collection, collections ''Angels and Visitations'' and ''Smoke and Mirrors (story colle ...

'' A Beautiful Place to Die'' and ''Let the Dead Lie,'' as well as the award-winning young adult novel, ''When the Ground Is Hard''.

Private life

Nunn was born in Swaziland in 1963 and moved to Perth with her parents in the 1970s. She attended the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

graduating with a

B.A. 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 degree ...

with a double major in English and History. She completed a

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

Theatre Studies Theatre studies (sometimes referred to as theatrology or dramatics) is the study of theatrical performance in relation to its literary, physical, psychological, sociological, and historical contexts. It is an interdisciplinary field which also enco ...

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. While in America she met her husband-to-be and they live with their two children in Sydney.

Career

Nunn wrote and directed several short films including the documentary ''Servant of the Ancestors'' in 1998 which screened at several festivals. It won Best Documentary Silver Images, Pan African, Zanzibar Film Festival, 2000. Her first book '' A Beautiful Place to Die'' was published in 2008. It is the first instalment in the Emmanuel Cooper series of novels, set in South Africa in the beginning of the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

era.

Bibliography

Crime fiction

Emmanuel Cooper series * '' A Beautiful Place to Die'' (2008) * ''Let the Dead Lie'' (2010) * ''Silent Valley'' (2012) also known as ''Blessed are the Dead'' * ''Present Darkness'' (2014) Other * Contributor to ''If I Tell You... I'll Have to Kill You'' (

Michael Robotham Michael Robotham (born 9 November 1960) is an Australian crime fiction writer who has twice won the CWA Gold Dagger award for best novel and twice been shortlisted for the Edgar Award for best novel. His eldest child is Alexandra Hope Robotham, ...

editor) (2013)

Young adult fiction

* ''When the Ground Is Hard'' (2019) * ''Sugar Town Queens'' (2022)

Awards

* 2009 Winner

Davitt Award The Davitt Awards are literary awards which are presented annually by the Sisters in Crime Australia association. The awards are named in honour of Ellen Davitt (1812–1879) who wrote Australia's first mystery novel, ''Force and Fraud'' in 186 ...

– Best Adult Novel – '' A Beautiful Place to Die'' * 2011 nominated

Ned Kelly Awards The Ned Kelly Awards (named for bushranger Ned Kelly) are Australia's leading literary awards for crime writing in both the crime fiction and true crime genres. They were established in 1996 by the Crime Writers Association of Australia to reward ...

for Crime Writing – Best Novel – ''Let the Dead Lie'' * Highly Commended – Ellis Peters Historical Crime Awards – ''Let the Dead Lie'' * 2013 shortlisted

– Best Adult Crime Novel – ''Silent Valley'' * 2013 shortlisted

for Crime Writing – Best Fiction – ''Silent Valley'' * 2013 nominated

Edgar Allan Poe Awards The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor ...

– Best Paperback Original – Blessed are the Dead (aka Silent Valley) * 2015 shortlisted

– Best Adult Crime Novel – ''Present Darkness'' * 2015 shortlisted

– Adult Fiction – ''Present Darkness'' *2019 winner LA Times Book Prize – Young Adult – ''When the Ground Is Hard'' *2020 winner Bank Street Children's Book Committee

Josette Frank Award The Josette Frank Award is an American children's literary award for fiction given annually by the Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education. It "honors a book or books of outstanding literary merit in which children or young p ...

, Best Book of the Year with "Outstanding Merit" – ''When the Ground Is Hard'' *2020 shortlisted Children's Book Council of Australia Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers – ''When the Ground Is Hard'' *2020 shortlisted

– Best Young Adult crime novel *2022 shortlisted Children's Book Council of Australia Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers – ''Sugar Town Queens''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunn, Malla 1963 births Living people Australian screenwriters Australian women screenwriters Australian women novelists 21st-century Australian novelists Australian mystery writers Swazi emigrants to Australia 21st-century Australian women writers 21st-century Australian screenwriters Women mystery writers