Editing Maurice Shadbolt

{{Short description|New Zealand writer (1932–2004)}}
{{more citations needed|date=June 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2019}}
[[File:Maurice Shadbolt (cropped).jpg|thumb|Shadbolt, {{circa|1970}}]]
'''Maurice Francis Richard Shadbolt''' {{post-nominals|post-noms=[[Commander of the Order of the British Empire|CBE]]}} (4 June 1932 – 10 October 2004) was a New Zealand writer<ref name="RobinsonWattie">Robinson and Wattie 1998</ref><ref name="NZHerald3599408">{{cite web |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3599408 |title=Obituary: Maurice Shadbolt |date=11 October 2004 |work=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=15 March 2009}}</ref> and occasional playwright.<ref name="RobinsonWattie"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Shadbolt, Maurice |url=http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/shadboltm.html |publisher=[[New Zealand Book Council]] |access-date=10 October 2011}}</ref>

==Biography==
Shadbolt was born in [[Auckland]], and was the eldest of three children. He had a younger brother and sister, Peter and Julia. Shadbolt was educated at Te Kuiti High School, [[Avondale College]] and [[Auckland University College]]. Shadbolt began writing for local [[West Auckland, New Zealand|West Auckland]] community newspapers.<ref name="West-Hauauru">{{cite book |last1=Jahn-Werner |first1=Tara |chapter=The Children of Hauauru |pages=347–348 |editor-last1=Macdonald |editor-first1=Finlay |editor-link1=Finlay Macdonald (editor) |editor-last2=Kerr |editor-first2=Ruth |title=West: The History of Waitakere |publisher=Random House |date=2009 |isbn=9781869790080}}</ref> In the 1960s, he moved to [[Titirangi]] with his family, buying a house that overlooked [[Little Muddy Creek (New Zealand)|Little Muddy Creek]], where he spent the next 42 years writing.<ref name="West-Hauauru"/>

In total, Shadbolt wrote 11 novels, four collections of short stories, two autobiographies, a war history, and a volume of journalism, as well as plays.<ref name="NZHerald3599408"/> He won the [[Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award]] for a short story three times: in 1963, 1967 and 1995.<ref name="Wells">{{cite news |last1=Wells |first1=Amanda |title=Short stories go online |work=Dominion |date=2 April 2001 |page=IT1}}</ref> His first collection of short stories, ''The New Zealanders'', was published in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. His most famous book is probably ''[[Season of the Jew]]'' (1987), which recounts the story of [[Te Kooti]].

In the [[1989 New Year Honours (New Zealand)|1989 New Year Honours]], Shadbolt was appointed a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] for services to literature.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=51580 |date=31 December 1988 |page=34 |supp=3}}</ref>

Shadbolt suffered from what was thought to be [[Alzheimer's disease]], which during his autopsy was found to be [[Lewy body dementia]].{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} He died on 10 October 2004 in a Taumarunui rest home, surrounded by his children.<ref name="NZHerald3599408"/> Shadbolt had five children: Sean, Brendan and twins Tui and Daniel from his first marriage to journalist and author Gillian Heming, and Brigid from his second marriage to television presenter Barbara Magner. Shadbolt was also married to actress [[Bridget Armstrong]]. His cousin [[Tim Shadbolt]] was [[Mayor of Invercargill]] for nearly 20 years until 2022.

==Bibliography==
His works were often published in the UK and United States as well as in New Zealand, sometimes in different years. Dates are for the first appearance.
{{div col}}
*''New Zealanders: a Sequence of Stories'' (1959).
*''Western Samoa: The Pacific's Newest Nation'' (1962).
*''Summer Fires and Winter Country'' (short stories, 1963).
*''New Zealand: Gift of the Sea'' (1963, revised 1973).
*''Among the Cinders'' (1965, revised 1984). A film version was released in 1983.
*''The Presence of Music: Three Novellas'' (1967).
*''New Zealand's Cook Islands: Paradise in Search of a Future'' (1967).
*''The Shell Guide to New Zealand'' (1968, revised 1973).
*''Isles of the South Pacific'' (1968).
*''This Summer's Dolphin'' (1969). Short novel inspired by the story of [[Opo the dolphin]].
*''An Ear of the Dragon'' (1971). Fictional novel based on the life of [[Renato Amato]].
*''Strangers and Journeys'' (1972). 
*''A Touch of Clay'' (1974). Part one of a projected trilogy.
*''Danger Zone'' (1975). Part two of the unfinished trilogy.
*''Love and legend: Some 20th century New Zealanders'' (1976).
*''Figures in Light: Selected Stories''  (1979).
*''[[The Lovelock Version]]'' (1980).
*''[[Season of the Jew]]'' (1986). Part one of the New Zealand Wars trilogy.
*''Guide to New Zealand'' (1988).
*''Voices of Galipoli'' (television documentary, 1988).
*''[[Monday's Warriors]]'' (1990). Part two of the New Zealand Wars trilogy.
*''Once on Chunuk Bair'' (1982), a play.  A film version ''[[Chunuk Bair (film)|Chunuk Bair]]'' was released in 1991.
*''The House of Strife'' (1993). Part three of the New Zealand Wars trilogy.
*''One of Ben's: A New Zealand Medley'' (autobiography, 1993).
*''Ending the Silences: Critical Essays'' (1994) 
*''Dove on the Waters'' (novellas, 1996).
*''Selected Stories of Maurice Shadbolt'', edited by Ralph Crane (1998).
*''From the Edge of the Sky: A Memoir'' (1999).
{{div col end}}

==See also==
* [[New Zealand literature]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
* Robinson, Roger and Nelson Wattie (eds.). ''The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature''. Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press, 1998. {{ISBN|0-19-558348-5}}.

==External links==
* [http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/shadboltm.html Maurice Shadbolt at the New Zealand Book Council]
* [https://archive.today/20121220085944/http://www.nzlf.auckland.ac.nz/author/?a_id=145 Shadbolts bibliography in the Auckland University Library]
* {{ISFDB name|id=146936|name=Maurice Shadbolt}}

{{Robert Burns Fellowship}}
{{Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellows}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shadbolt, Maurice}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Deaths from dementia in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease]]
[[Category:New Zealand male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century New Zealand novelists]]
[[Category:New Zealand male short story writers]]
[[Category:New Zealand memoirists]]
[[Category:20th-century New Zealand dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:New Zealand male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:People educated at Avondale College]]
[[Category:20th-century New Zealand short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century New Zealand male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century New Zealand journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century memoirists]]
[[Category:People educated at Te Kuiti High School]]