Nigel Cox (13 January 1951 – 28 July 2006) was a New Zealand author and

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

director, with five novels published as of early 2006.

Childhood and early career

Born in 1951 in Pahiatua, Cox grew up in the

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service t ...

and

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt () is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropoli ...

area. He worked in various jobs up until 1977; in the words of his author page on the Victoria University Press website, "His early working life reads like an author trying to find his way: advertising account executive, assembly line worker at Ford, deck hand, coalman, door-to-door turkey salesman, driver." Later, between 1977 and 1993, he worked as a bookseller in Auckland and Wellington.

First novels

His first two novels, ''Waiting for Einstein'' (1984) and '' Dirty Work'' (1987) were both written while he was working in bookstores in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

and

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 ...

. Both these novels have

settings. For ''Dirty Work'', Cox was awarded the Bucklands Memorial Literary Prize in 1988, as well as the 1991

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer and critic who was an important figure in the Literary modernism, modernist movement. Her works are celebrated across the world and have been ...

Memorial Fellowship. From 1995, he took up work as senior writer at the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...

. He published a number of articles during this time, but did not produce any new novels.

2000–2006

As of the publication of '' Skylark Lounge'' in 2000, Cox had not published a new novel since ''Dirty Work'', thirteen years previously. The same year, he left New Zealand to join Ken Gorbey, his colleague at Te Papa, on the project team at the Jewish Museum Berlin. In 2001 he became the museum's Head of Exhibitions and Communications. While in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Cox completed his fourth novel, '' Tarzan Presley'' (2004). The book was notable for fusing the life story of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

and the fictional character

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Creat ...

into a single original narrative. The book was nominated in the fiction category of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2005, where it was judged runner-up, despite being embroiled in

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

controversy in the United States. Cox returned to New Zealand in March 2005, rejoining Te Papa as Director – Experience. His fifth novel, '' Responsibility'' (2005), set in

, combined elements from noir and

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

fiction with a comedic edge. It was runner-up in the 2006 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. In 2006, ''Dirty Work'' was republished by Victoria University Press. On 28 July 2006, just four days after attending the Montana New Zealand Book Awards where he was the Fiction runner-up, he died due to

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

which he had had for some time. He was working on the final draft of a sixth novel, ''The Cowboy Dog'', when he died. It was published in November 2006.

Novels

*''Waiting for Einstein'' (1984) *'' Dirty Work'' (1987) *''Skylark Lounge'' (2000) *''Tarzan Presley'' (2004) *'' Responsibility'' (2005) *''The Cowboy Dog'' (2006)

References

External links