AWARD FOR NEW BIOGRAPHY OF KATHERINE MANSFIELD
A research project into the
childhood and early life of Katherine Mansfield has won the 2015 Friends of the
Turnbull Library (FoTL) Research Grant of $10,000.
Dr Gerri Kimber, a leading United
Kingdom authority on Katherine Mansfield, has been working on a new biography
of Katherine Mansfield’s early years and has already located previously
unpublished material relating to her first 19 years in New Zealand. Dr Kimber
will use the FoTL Research Grant to explore the collections of Wellington’s
Alexander Turnbull Library, which is renowned for its substantial archives
concerning Mansfield. This material includes the recently acquired literary and
personal papers from the estate of John Middleton Murry, Mansfield’s husband.
Dr Kimber expects to complete the
biography in 2015, and the book is to be published by the Edinburgh University
Press.
‘Gerri Kimber’s work will shed
new light on Mansfield’s early life and the significant influence of her New
Zealand childhood on her writing.’ said Rachel
Underwood, President of the Friends of the Turnbull Library. ‘This research
project will enrich our understanding of KM and reinforce the immense value of
the archives of the Turnbull Library.’
The Friends of the Turnbull
Library used two generous bequests to establish this Research Grant, which
supports the distinctive contribution that a research and heritage library
makes to public knowledge. It celebrates the significant role of ongoing
research and publication based on the Alexander Turnbull Library collections
and the knowledge of the staff.
The Friends’ Research Grant
attracts a large number of applicants each year. Previous grants have been
awarded to Philip Norman for his biography of Douglas Lilburn; Tim Beaglehole
for his biography of historian JC Beaglehole; Alex Bremner for his study of
colonial Anglican architecture; Paul Diamond for his photo-biography of
Makareti (Maggie Papakura); Jennifer Shennan for her biography of dancer Poul
Gnatt; Paul Meredith to research a book based on the journey to England of the
Māori King Te Rata in 1914; to Philip Simpson for his book, Totara: Te Mahi a Rauru; to Charlotte
Williams for a history of relations between Māori and the National Party
1936-1996; to Doug Munro for a
history of the NZ Opera Company 1954-1971; and to Lucy Treep for a biography of
writer, Maurice Shadbolt.
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