Vanda Symon (born 1969) is a

crime writer Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

and radio host from

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, and the Chair of the

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

Southland Branch of the

New Zealand Society of Authors The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN New Zealand Inc.) promotes and protects the interests of New Zealand writers. It was founded as the New Zealand PEN Centre (Poets, Essays and Novelists) in 1934. It broadened its scope and became the New Ze ...

. Three of her novels have been shortlisted for New Zealand's annual Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel.

Life

Born in

Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...

, she grew up there and then in

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...

. Symon calls herself "the product of a life-long love affair with books", having developed a strong love of reading at an early age. She has said her first books obsession was with the

Berenstain Bears The ''Berenstain Bears'' is a children's literature franchise created by Stan and Jan Berenstain and continued by their son, Mike Berenstain. The books feature a family of anthropomorphic grizzly bears who generally learn a moral or safety ...

series of children's books – before she moved on to "camping out at the library" and a steady diet of

Rosemary Sutcliff Rosemary Sutcliff (14 December 1920 – 23 July 1992) was an English novelist best known for children's books, especially historical fiction and retellings of myths and legends. Although she was primarily a children's author, some of her novel ...

and TH White. The latter's '' The Sword in the Stone'' led her to a love of all things Camelot, a fascination with medieval times, and even choosing fencing as her sport. After high school, Symon headed south to study pharmacy 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 ...

in Dunedin. She practised as a

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in ...

in the community and at the local

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...

until 1999. She started a family in 2000, and began writing full-time while looking after her children in Hawke's Bay. She returned to Dunedin in 2005 before her first novel was published. Symon is a full-time mother and writer, and also produces and hosts a monthly books-focused radio show 'Write On' on Toroa Radio (It airs live on the second Wednesday of each month on Hills AM Community Radio 1575 kHz from noon to 1:00pm), serves as the Chair of the Otago Southland Branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors, and does monthly book reviews for Dunedin Diary on Channel 9 Television. In 2018 Symon completed a PhD at the University of Otago, with a thesis on science in crime fiction. Her doctoral advisors were Natalie Medlicott, Susan Heydon, and Warwick Duncan.

Writing

Symon's first novel, ''

Overkill Overkill may refer to: * Overkill (term), the use of excessive force or action to achieve a goal * Surplus killing, when a predator kills more prey than it can eat * Overexploitation, depletion of a natural resource through overharvesting ** Over ...

'', was published in March 2007 in New Zealand by

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

. It introduces series heroine Sam Shephard, and centres on the looks-like suicide death of a young mother in a small rural town in New Zealand. Symon told the ''Otago Daily Times'' that: “''Overkill'' was 4 ½ years from go to whoa. This was very part time fitting in snippets of writing around babies and the associated demands of feeding, play, dealing with messes of all origins, household running and eyeballs-falling-out-of-head tiredness.” Symon followed with the publication of her second novel '' The Ringmaster'' in August 2008. She has had some international success, with the German translation of ''Overkill'', ''Ein Harmloser Mord'', being published by

Blanvalet Blanvalet is a German publishing house, based in Munich, which was founded in 1935 in Berlin and is now part of the Bertelsmann's Random House publishing group. Blanvalet publishes entertainment literature and non-fiction, first in hardcover, and ...

in October 2008. Symon's third novel featuring Detective Sam Shephard, ''Containment'', was published in November 2009, appeared on the New Zealand Adult Fiction Bestsellers List, and was on the shortlist for the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. A fourth novel in the Sam Shephard series, ''Bound'', appeared in 2011. ''Bound'' was shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award. Symon's fifth novel, a standalone thriller called ''The Faceless'', was published in 2012. Set in Auckland, it too was shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award.

Radio

Symon's hosts ''Write On'', the radio show of the Otago Southland branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors, broadcast on Toroa Radio 1575 kHz AM.Write On Blog
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Crime novels

Sam Shephard series * 2007: ''

.'' * 2008: '' The Ringmaster.'' * 2009: ''

Containment Containment was a Geopolitics, geopolitical strategic foreign policy pursued by the United States during the Cold War to prevent the spread of communism after the end of World War II. The name was loosely related to the term ''Cordon sanitaire ...

.'' * 2011: '' Bound.'' * 2023: '' Expectant.'' London: Orenda Books. Other * 2012: ''The Faceless.''

References

External links

Official Vanda Symon site

Overkill – Thoughts from the mind of a serial crime writer – Official Vanda Symon blog

NZ Book Month Interview with Vanda Symon

New Zealand Society of Authors official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Symon, Vanda 1969 births Mass media people from Dunedin Living people Women crime fiction writers New Zealand crime fiction writers New Zealand women novelists University of Otago alumni 21st-century New Zealand novelists 21st-century New Zealand women writers Writers from Dunedin