Laura Solomon

Laura Jane Solomon (28 June 1974 – 18 February 2019) was a New Zealand novelist, playwright and poet. She emerged as part of a new wave of young New Zealand writers in the 1990s anthologised in Mark Pirie's New Zealand Writing: The NeXt Wave. Her first two novels were published around this time, while Solomon was in her early 20s, and she subsequently moved abroad to London where she wrote further works and trained as an IT professional. In 2007 she returned to New Zealand due to ongoing health problems, but continued to write and publish prolifically until her death. Solomon is best-known as a novelist, but her poetry and short stories have also been widely published and short-listed for awards and prizes.

Early life and career Solomon was born in Auckland on 28 June 1974. Her mother was a special education teacher and her father was an electrical engineer. She grew up in various parts of New Zealand, including Raetihi and Nelson. She graduated from Nayland College, Nelson, in 1991. She began writing novels as a 13-year-old. In 2003 she completed an MSc in computer science at Birkbeck College at the University of London. and was short-listed for the Virginia Prize in the UK. In 2011, her debut collection of poetry In Vitro was published.

She later published additional novels Hilary and David (2011), Vera Magpie (2013), University Days (2014, a sequel to Instant Messages), and a short story collection, The Shingle Bar Sea Monster and Other Stories (2012). Her publishers at Proverse said of her that she was "a bright, perceptive, witty writer, with a keen ear for dialogue and a wry and objective vision of modern life".

Selected works

Fiction Black Light (North Shore City, N.Z.: Tandem Press, 1996) Nothing Lasting (North Shore City, N.Z.: Tandem Press, 1997) Alternative Medicine (short stories) (UK: Flame Books, 2008) An Imitation of Life (UK: Solidus, 2010) Instant Messages (Hong Kong: Proverse Publishing, 2010) Hilary and David (Hong Kong: Proverse Publishing, 2011) The Shingle Bar Sea Monster and Other Stories (Hong Kong: Proverse Publishing, 2012) An Imitation of Life, 2nd revsd ed. (Hong Kong: Proverse Publishing, 2013) Vera Magpie (Hong Kong: Proverse Publishing, 2013) University Days (Hong Kong: Proverse Publishing, 2014) Taking Wainui (short stories) (India: Woven Words Publishers, 2017) Marsha's Deal (Finland: Creativia, 2017) Tales of Love and Disability (short stories) (India: Woven Words Publishers, 2018) Hell's Unveiling (India: Woven Words Publishers, 2018)

Poetry In Vitro (Wellington: HeadworX Publishers, 2011) In Vitro (Hong Kong: Proverse Publishing, 2014, 2nd edition) Frida Kahlo’s Cry and Other Poems (Hong Kong: Proverse Publishing, 2015) Awakening (New York: Adelaide Books, 2018)

Drama Brain Graft (Hong Kong: Proverse Publishing, 2017)