Kate De Goldi was born in 1959 in Christchurch, where, as a child, she already filled books with her stories, and at school her classmates performed plays she had written. She began writing short stories at the age of 28 and soon won prizes, which confirmed her decision to make writing her career. Her early work was published under the pseudonym Kate Flannery. Kate De Goldi now also writes for children and young adults. In addition to her work as a writer, she works as a journalist reviewing books for literary programmes for television and radio.
Her début »like you, really« (1994) consists of 11 single, linked episodes which precisely observe the dynamics of a Catholic family in Christchurch, covering a period from the 1950s to the present time. »like you, really« was praised by critics as an acute analysis of a family’s history, skilfully combining the ups and downs with contemporary and local events.
»Sanctuary« (1996) was equally lauded as a book which authentically depicts the emotional turmoil of teenagers. Her children’s book »Clubs – A Lolly Leopold Story« (2004) has as its heroine the confident schoolgirl Lolly, who by the end of the school year has not joined any school clubs and so decides to form her own club. The writer gleefully enters the microcosm of a classroom and the daily life of a school as it unfolds, knowledgeable and full of insight – and wonderfully illustrated by Jacqui Colley. Kate De Goldi’s YA novel »The 10 PM Question« (2008) is the only book of hers to be translated into German. It is the touching coming-of-age story of the eccentric teenager Frankie and her sick mother. The newspaper »Die Welt« said it was »simply »enchanting. Its magic is cumulative, it is unveiled in the everyday life of a 13-year old and transforms the dilapidated terrace home of an apparently charmingly chaotic family into a biotope of seriously-handled weirdness.«
Kate De Goldi has won many awards and prizes for her novels and short stories, including the Esther Glen Award (1997), the New Zealand Post Book of the Year Award (2005 and 2009), the LUCHS (2011) and the Corine (2011). Kate De Goldi has lived in Wellington since 1997.
© internationales literaturfestival berlin