McNeish, James

Autor: McNeish, James
Rok: 1931-

Sir James Henry Peter McNeish KNZM (born 1931) attended Auckland Grammar School and graduated from Auckland University with a degree in languages.He is a New Zealand novelist, playwright and biographer who travelled the world as a young man - working as a deckhand on a Norwegian freighter in 1958, and recording folk music in 21 countries. He worked in the Theatre Workshop in London with Joan Littlewood, and was influenced by her spirit of socially committed drama. He worked as a free-lance programme- and documentary-maker for the BBC Radio's Features Department in the 1960s. He also wrote for The Guardian and The Observer. He spent three years in Sicily with Danilo Dolci, the non-violent anti-Mafia reformer, and wrote Fire under the Ashes (1965, London: Hodder and Stoughton) a biographical account of Dolci's life which is remarkable for its objectivity and clarity. He has written some 25 books.James McNeish's writing has been the subject of critical acclaim both at home and abroad. Besides New Zealand, his books are set in Sicily, London, Israel and New Caledonia. He has been described as prolific by the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature. His book "Lovelock" was nominated for the 1986 Booker Prize.In 1999, he was awarded the prestigious National Library of New Zealand Research Fellowship, allowing him to research the lives and friendships of five prominent New Zealanders who attended Oxford University in the 1930s - four of them Rhodes Scholars: James Bertram, Geoffrey Cox, Dan Davin, Ian Milner and John Mulgan: This multi-biography was published under the title The Dance of the Peacocks: New Zealanders in exile in the time of Hitler and Mao Tse Tung (2003). In the same vein, "The Sixth Man" (2007) is a biography of another gifted New Zealander, Paddy Costello, who studied at Cambridge University during the same period and whose subsequent career in the Foreign Office was marred by controversy.In 2010, Sir James was honoured with the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in Non-Fiction. He plans to donate part of his prize towards a travel scholarship - 'a hardship scheme' - for young writers.It has been said about him that among New Zealand novelists, he remains the 'wild card'. In an interview with Philip Matthews in 2010 (Weekend, 26 June 2010), he said: “I’ve always been an outsider, and I’m quite comfortable with that. To retain your critical sense in a small society like New Zealand, you have to stand apart”.In the New Year Honours 2011 McNeish was appointed as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature.He lives in Wellington, New Zealand, with his wife Helen, Lady McNeish.