Nigel Cox (author)

Nigel Cox ( born January 13, 1951 in Pahiatua, † July 28, 2006 in Wellington ) was a New Zealand author and museum director.

Early years

Born 1951 in Pahiatua, Nigel Cox grew up in the area of Wairarapa and Lower Hutt. He worked in various jobs until 1977, assembly line worker at Ford, salesmen, driver - as is so often just a writer who is looking for his way. Later, 1977-1993, he had a day job as a bookseller in Auckland and Wellington.

First novels

His first two novels, Waiting for Einstein ( 1984) and Dirty Work (1987 ) were both written in addition to his work in bookstores Wellington and Auckland. The stories both play in Wellington.

For Dirty Work Nigel won the 1988 Buckland's Memorial Literary Award, and in 1991 the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship. In 1993 he began his work in the museum, Te Papa, New Zealand. During this time he published a number of articles, but no new novels.

2000-2006

With the release of Skylark Lounge in 2000, he completed a writing break of 13 years. In the same year, he left with his family in New Zealand, to build the new Jewish Museum Berlin together with his compatriot Ken Gorbey. His handwriting in the exhibition is unmistakable.

During his time in Berlin, he was present in 2004 the public his fourth novel, Tarzan Presley. The book was nominated in the fiction category for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2005, where it was second in the jury vote despite the copyright dispute which ran in the United States.

In March 2005, the family returned to Cox five years back to New Zealand and to the Te Papa Museum back. His fifth novel Responsibility ( 2005), set in Berlin, 2006 was again second in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

2006 Dirty Work was reissued at Victoria University Press.

On 28 July 2006, only four days after he participated in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, where he finished second in the category of fiction, he succumbed to the cancer, against which he had fought some time. He was 55 years old and leaves behind his wife Susanna Andrew and the three children, Kate, Andrew Jack and Frank. Nigel was working on the last revision of his sixth book, The Cowboy Dog, which finally appeared in New Zealand in November 2006.

Novels

• Waiting for Einstein ( 1984)
• Dirty Work (1987 )
• Skylark Lounge ( 2000)
• Tarzan Presley (2004)
• Responsibility ( 2005)
• The Cowboy Dog ( 2006)

Bibliography and References

• Official author page on Victoria University Press website
• New Zealand Book Council author information page

• Author
• New Zealand literature
• New Zealanders
• Born in 1951
• Died 2006
• Man