Fiona Kidman

Who is Fiona Kidman?

Dame Fiona Judith Kidman DNZM OBE, is a New Zealand novelist, poet, scriptwriter and short story author.

Kidman grew up in Northland and worked as a librarian in Rotorua after leaving school. She married Ian Kidman in 1960 and they have a son and daughter. She now lives in Wellington.

Kidman began her writing career as a freelance journalist in the early 1960s and was mentored by Bruce Mason and William Austin in theatre and radio theatre. Her first of eight novels was published in 1979, and she has also published four short story collections and four collections of poetry. Her work is often concerned with the effects of suburban and provincial lower middle-class life, its morals and its hypocrisies.

Kidman is active in the literary community, serving as the national president of PEN from 1981 to 1983 and as the president of the New Zealand Book Council from 1992 to 1995. In 1988 she founded and ran the Fiona Kidman Creative Writing School, which is now part of Whitireia Community Polytechnic. She was the Meridian Energy Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellow for 2006 and President of Honour of the New Zealand Book Council.