Iona Winter

Iona Winter is a New Zealand writer specialising in hybrid fiction, poetry and short fiction.

Career

Winter is of Māori (Waitaha) and Pākehā descent, and holds a Master's degree in Creative Writing from the Auckland University of Technology (AUT).[1] After writing a novel as part of her master's study, she pivoted to writing flash fiction.[2] She cites Hone Tuwhare, Patricia Grace, Sam Hunt, James K Baxter and Witi Ihimaera as influences.[3]

Winter has served as poetry editor for the Otago Daily Times,[4] and in 2016 she was an International Cities of Literature guest reader at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.[5][6]

Her first collection of stories and poems, and then the wind came, was published by Steele Roberts in 2018. Siobhan Harvey in the The New Zealand Herald described it "a stunning book" with themes of nature, family and loss, confirming Winter "as a fresh, necessary voice, one we'll hear a lot more about in the future".[7]

Winter's second collection, Gaps in the Light, was published in 2021. Author Pip Adam described it as "the most amazing and transforming hybrid work" and said she had "never read anything quite like it".[8] Paula Green praised the work's treatment of grief; her review comments that Winter "is translating personal experience into hybrid writing and it is incredibly potent".[9]

Multi-disciplinary work

Winter's work has appeared on the fence of the Anteroom Art Gallery in Port Chalmers[4] and on a FIFA Women's World Cup mural in The Octagon, Ōtepoti Dunedin.[10] Her 2021 short fiction collection Gaps in The Light is available as a podcast via Otago Access Radio.[11] She contributed to 2020 Dunedin Fringe Festival show (a)version,[12] and has also made several video recordings of her work.[13]

Elixir & Star Press

Winter is also the founder and editor of Elixir & Star Press,[14] an independent press with a focus on grief.[15] In 2023 she ran a successful crowdfunding campaign to fund the publication of a liminal gathering: 2023 Elixir & Star Grief Almanac, the press's first publication.[16]

Advocacy

Winter's son, musician Reuben Winter (also known as Totems), died in 2020.[17] Winter has since advocated for the suicide bereaved[18] and raised awareness about suicide bereavement.

Winter is also an advocate for te reo Māori, and uses te reo in her work.[19]

Works
  • Gaps in The Light (Ad Hoc Fiction, 2021), short fiction[20]
  • then the wind came (Steele Roberts, 2018), stories and poems[21]

Awards

Further reading

References
  1. "$25,000 CLNZ/NZSA Writers' Award awarded to Ōtepoti Writer and Poet Iona Winter". www.copyright.co.nz. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  2. "Is Flash enough?". Kete Books. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  3. Writer, Kim- (7 March 2019). "Writer Interview: Iona Winter". K Jackways - Author. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  4. McKinlay, Tom (13 September 2021). "The words that sparkle". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  5. "Latest happenings — Dunedin City of Literature". www.cityofliterature.co.nz. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  6. "Nightly Interview: Iona Winter". Channel 39. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  7. Harvey, Siobhan (9 March 2019). "Siobhan Harvey poetry". The New Zealand Herald. p. E17. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  8. Adam, Pip (9 May 2021). "What I'm Reading". Sunday Star-Times. p. 24. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  9. Green, Paula (8 July 2021). "Poetry Shelf review: Iona Winter's gaps in the light". NZ Poetry Shelf. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  10. Lewis, John (28 July 2023). "Wet weather no match for mural with strong 'wahine vibes'". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  11. Angelo-Laloli, Domi (29 June 2021). "Gaps in the Light". OAR FM Dunedin. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  12. "Iona Winter and Victoria McIntosh - (a)version : Dunedin Fringe Festival". www.dunedinfringe.nz. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  13. "iona winter". NZ Poetry Shelf. 11 March 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  14. "Announcing the launch of Elixir & Star Press | New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc) Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa". Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  15. "A unique experience". New Zealand Author (332): 23–25. Autumn 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  16. "a liminal gathering". a liminal gathering. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  17. Breslin, Liz (1 March 2021). "A mother who counts the months". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  18. "Iona Winter ~ At The Bay ~ I Te Kokoru". 28 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  19. "Nightly Interview: Iona Winter". Channel 39. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  20. "Gaps in the Light : Iona Winter". Ad Hoc Fiction. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  21. "then the wind came". Steele Roberts Aotearoa. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  22. "NZ Society of Authors 2015 Mentorship Recipients Announced | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  23. "The Pursuit of Freedom". Otago Daily Times. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  24. "Two Toikupu by Iona Winter". Verb Wellington. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
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