Jane Arthur

Jane is writing a novel for adults. Her research will look at voice and tone, and how something can be both sad and funny in the same moment in fiction.

Commenced 2025

Image of Jane Arthur. (Credit: Tabitha Arthur Photography)

Jane Arthur has a Master of Arts (Distinction) in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and a Master of Arts (Honours) in English Literature from the University of Auckland. She won the 2018 Sarah Broom Poetry Prize, judged by US poet Eileen Myles.

Her first poetry collection, Craven, was published in 2019 by Victoria University Press (now Te Herenga Waka University Press) and won the 2020 Jessie Mackay Prize for Poetry (Best First Book Award). A second collection, Calamities!, was published in 2023 by Te Herenga Waka University Press and was longlisted for the 2024 Ockham NZ Book Awards.

Jane's debut children's novel, Brown Bird, was published in May 2024 by Puffin/Penguin Random House NZ, and was named a Storylines Notable Book and a Best NZ Book of 2024 by The Spinoff.

For her critical component, Jane is looking at voice-driven novels that have a comic tone, about dysfunctional families dealing with mental illness. How can they manage to be funny while they’re sad? The three novels she is closely examining are Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason, All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews and I'm Sorry You Feel That Way by Rebecca Wait.

For her creative component, she is writing a novel about having parents and becoming a parent. It spans the 1980s to the 2020s, touching on the generation before that. It includes the impact of the 1991 recession and the current financial crisis on one family, and other generational impacts – including labour, education and class – particularly on Pākehā in this country. It's also about intergenerational ignoring of mental health issues, and what that can do to individuals and families. It asks the questions: who are we trying to impress, and who do we think we’re fooling?