The Wish Child

Catherine Chidgey was born in 1970 and grew up in New Zealand. Her first novel, In a Fishbone Church, was published in 1999 and won Best First Book at the New Zealand Book Awards and at the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. It also won a Betty Trask Award and was longlisted for the Orange Prize. Her second novel, Golden Deeds, was chosen by Time Out magazine asa book of the year, and was a 2002 Best Book in the La Times Book Review and a 2002 Notable Book in the New York Times Book Review. Her third novel, The Transformation, was chosen by Barnes & Noble as a Discover Pick in 2005. In 2013 she won the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Award. Catherine has held the Sargeson Fellowship; the Todd New Writers¿ Bursary; the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship to Menton, France; the Rathcoola Residency to Cork, Ireland; the NZSA Peter and Dianne Beatson Fellowship; and the University of Otago Wallace Residency at the Pah Homestead in Auckland. In 2002 she won the inaugural Prize in Modern Letters and in 2003 she was named as the best New Zealand under 40.

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