Jillian Sullivan facts for kids

Jillian Sullivan is a talented writer from New Zealand. She writes exciting stories, true-life tales, and beautiful poems. She also teaches other people how to write creatively. Her books and poems have been shared in New Zealand and around the world!

About Jillian Sullivan

Jillian Sullivan was born in Masterton, New Zealand, in 1957. She grew up to become a well-known writer.

Her Writing Journey

Jillian writes many different kinds of books. She has written novels and short stories for adults. She also writes for children and teenagers. Besides stories, she writes creative non-fiction, which means true stories told in an interesting way. She also writes poetry.

Her work has appeared in many magazines and collections. Some of these include Landfall and North and South. In 2011, she earned a special degree. It was a Master of Creative Writing from Massey University.

A Unique Home

Jillian lived in Nelson for many years. Later, she moved to Oturehua in Central Otago. She wrote a book called A Way Home. This book tells the story of how she built her dream house. It was a special house made from straw bales!

Teaching Others to Write

Jillian loves to help others write. She leads workshops at book festivals. She also teaches creative writing classes. She has taught in New Zealand, and even in America. She taught at Rosemont College in Philadelphia. She also taught at the Highlights Foundation in Pennsylvania.

Jillian has five children and nine grandchildren. For some time, she also worked as a nurse aid. She helped people at the Maniototo Hospital.

Awards and Prizes

Jillian Sullivan has won many awards for her writing. These awards show how talented she is.

Early Wins

In 2002, she was a runner-up in a big short story contest. It was the Sunday Star Times Short Story Competition. The next year, in 2003, she won the Tom Fitzgibbon Award. This award is for children's writing. In 2005, she won another award for children's writing. It was the Maurice Gee Prize.

Poetry and Essays

In 2011, Jillian won the Kathleen Grattan Prize. This award was for a group of poems. These poems later became her book called parallel. In 2016, she won the Takahē Poetry Competition. Her winning poem was 'My Mother at the Edge of Town'.

In 2017, she received a special fellowship. It was the NZSA Peter & Dianne Beatson Fellowship. This helped her work on a collection of true-life essays. These essays were about protecting nature.

In 2018, she won the Juncture Memoir Contest in America. This was for her essay called ‘Between Lands’. Another essay, ‘In the Midst of My True Life’, won a prize too. It was the Best Non-fiction Bonus Prize. This was part of the Elyne Mitchell Writing Awards. She was also highly praised in the Warren Trust Awards. This was for her writing about architecture.