Briar Grace-Smith

Who is Briar Grace-Smith?

Briar Grace-Smith is a playwright and screenwriter from New Zealand. Her first major play, Ngā Pou Wahine earned her the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. Her play Purapurawhetū won Best New Zealand Play at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. In 2000, she received the Arts Foundation Laureate Award. In 2003, she was the Writer in Residence at Victoria University of Wellington. She is the screenwriter of the New Zealand feature film Strength of Water. Her plays her toured in New Zealand and internationally.

The film Strength of Water premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival in January 2009. She was a finalist at the 2009 Qantas Film and TV Awards for Best Screenplay for a Feature Film.