# Celia Manson > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Celia_Manson > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Celia_Manson.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celia_Manson > Source revision: 1321864909 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|New Zealand writer (1908–1987)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2022}} {{Infobox writer | name = Celia Manson | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MBE|size=100%}} | image = | alt = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = Cecilia Evelyn Drummond | birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|08|24|df=y}} | birth_place = [Carterton](/source/Carterton%2C_New_Zealand), New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|1987|10|28|1908|08|24|df=y}} | death_place = | resting_place = | occupation = {{Cslist|Writer|journalist|broadcaster}} | period = | spouse = {{Marriage|[Cecil Murray Manson](/source/Cecil_Manson)|1939|1987|end=d.}} | awards = | relatives = [Norah Burnard](/source/Norah_Burnard) (sister) }} '''Cecilia Evelyn Manson''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MBE|size=85%}} ({{nee|'''Drummond'''}}; 24 August 1908 – 28 October 1987), known as '''Celia Manson''', was a New Zealand writer, journalist and broadcaster. Many of her works were co-written with her husband [Cecil Manson](/source/Cecil_Manson), and together they also laid the foundations for the [Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship](/source/Katherine_Mansfield_Menton_Fellowship). ==Life and career== Manson was born in [Carterton](/source/Carterton%2C_New_Zealand) on 24 August 1908.{{sfn|France|Quinn|Henden|Ashforth|1984|p=52}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/search/search?path=%2FqueryEntry.m%3Ftype%3Ddeaths |title=Death search: registration number 1987/51128 |website=Births, deaths & marriages online |publisher=Department of Internal Affairs |access-date=8 August 2022}} She was one of ten children of Agnes Telford and her husband, Robert Drummond, a teacher; the journal editor [Norah Burnard](/source/Norah_Burnard) was her older sister.{{DNZB|title=Norah Telford Burnard|first= Charlotte|last= Macdonald|id=5b49|accessdate=23 April 2017}} Manson attended [Wairarapa College](/source/Wairarapa_College) and subsequently [Victoria University College](/source/Victoria_University_College).{{cite encyclopedia |last=Robinson |first=Roger |editor1-last=Robinson |editor1-first=Roger |editor2-last=Wattie |editor2-first=Nelson |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature |title=Manson, Cecil and Cecilia |chapter=Manson, Cecil |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001/acref-9780195583489-e-762 |access-date=27 July 2022 |date=2006 |publisher=[Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press) |isbn=978-0-1917-3519-6 |oclc=865265749 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001|url-access=subscription }} After university she travelled to the United Kingdom, where she worked as a freelance journalist for the [BBC](/source/BBC), including narrating a television series about three generations of a New Zealand family.{{cite news |title=Payment Made in Ice Cream: New York Broadcast by N.Z. Woman |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19500125.2.5 |access-date=28 July 2022 |work=The Press |date=25 January 1950 |page=2}} In 1939 she married [Cecil Manson](/source/Cecil_Manson), an English soldier, in France.{{cite news |title=Here and There |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19391220.2.161.4 |access-date=28 July 2022 |work=Evening Post |date=20 December 1939 |page=16}} Their son Hugo was born in London in 1941. They went on to co-write several books together about New Zealand history, including children's books, and beginning with ''Tides of Hokianga'' in 1956.{{cite news |last1=Rendle |first1=Steve |title=Gallipoli through a father's eyes |url=https://times-age.co.nz/gallipoli-through-a-fathers-eyes/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211192958/https://times-age.co.nz/gallipoli-through-a-fathers-eyes/ |archive-date=11 February 2022 |work=Wairarapa Times-Age |date=10 September 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Manson |first1=Beth |title=The shattering of our youth |url=https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/the-press/20190425/281775630566117 |access-date=27 July 2022 |work=The Press |date=29 April 2019}} For some years they published weekly historical essays in ''[The Dominion](/source/The_Dominion_(Wellington))''; these were published in a collection called ''Curtain-raiser to a Colony'' in 1962.{{cite news |title=About New Zealand |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19630112.2.8.7 |access-date=28 July 2022 |work=The Press |date=12 January 1963}} They moved back to New Zealand after the end of the war, with Manson recording a programme for Wellington radio about her impressions on her return.{{cite news |title=Broadcasting |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC19480827.2.95 |access-date=28 July 2022 |work=Wanganui Chronicle |date=27 August 1948 |page=7}} In 1949 her book ''Willow's Point'', an adventure story for children set in New Zealand, was published by the [Museum Press](/source/Museum_Press) in London, under the name C. Drummond Manson; her publisher anticipated that boys would not want to read a book written by a woman. Together with her husband and [Sheilah Winn](/source/Sheilah_Winn) she initiated the [Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship](/source/Katherine_Mansfield_Menton_Fellowship). In 1967 Cecil and Celia visited the Villa Isola Bella where Mansfield wrote some of her best-known short stories, and discovered that a room on the lower level where she worked was derelict and not in use.{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Mortelier |first1=Christine |last2=Robinson |first2=Roger |editor1-last=Robinson |editor1-first=Roger |editor2-last=Wattie |editor2-first=Nelson |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature |title=Mansfield Fellowship, The |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001/acref-9780195583489-e-761 |access-date=7 January 2021 |date=2006 |publisher=[Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press) |isbn=978-0-1917-3519-6 |oclc=865265749 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001 |url-access=subscription}} Together with Winn, they decided to set up a fellowship for New Zealand authors, and formed a committee in Wellington to raise funds. Their vision was "to give a selected New Zealand writer a period of leisure to write or study ... [in] a different and more ancient culture, and thereby to see [their] own remote country in a better perspective".{{cite news |last1=Catherall |first1=Sarah |title=Katherine Mansfield Fellowship saved by a literary whip-round |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/73669933/katherine-mansfield-fellowship-saved-by-a-literary-whip-round |accessdate=20 October 2020 |work=Stuff.co.nz |date=5 November 2015}}{{cite news |last1=Manson |first1=Bess |title=Writing with the ghost of Katherine Mansfield |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/300040717/writing-with-the-ghost-of-katherine-mansfield |accessdate=19 October 2020 |work=Stuff.co.nz |date=23 August 2020}} In 1960 she joined the [New Zealand Women Writers' Society](/source/New_Zealand_Women_Writers'_Society), and in 1969 was appointed an honorary vice-president. She served as president of the society from 1970 to 1972.{{sfn|France|Quinn|Henden|Ashforth|1984|p=52}}{{sfn|Hayward|Cowley|1982|p=28}} She was appointed a [Member of the Order of the British Empire](/source/Member_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire), for services to literature, in the [1977 New Year Honours](/source/1977_New_Year_Honours_(New_Zealand)).{{London Gazette |issue=47104 |date=31 December 1976 |pages=43}} In 1978, a review of the Mansons' book ''The Affair of the Wellington Brig: A True and Terrible Tale'' by ''[The Press](/source/The_Press)'' described it as a "story superbly told with the skill expected of Cecil and Celia Manson".{{cite news |title=Dark Convict Voyage |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19781118.2.87.3 |access-date=28 July 2022 |work=The Press |date=18 November 1978 |page=17}} Manson died on 28 October 1987, four months after the death of her husband.{{cite book |title=Who's Who in New Zealand. |date=1991 |publisher=Reed |location=Wellington, New Zealand |isbn=9780790001302 |page=725 |edition=12th |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6x8OAQAAMAAJ&q=manson |access-date=28 July 2022}} ==Selected works== Manson and her husband Cecil jointly co-authored: *''Tides of Hokianga'' (Wingfield Press, 1956) * ''Doctor Agnes Bennett'' (Whitcombe & Tombs, 1960, also published in London by [Michael Joseph](/source/Michael_Joseph_(publisher)){{cite web |title=Doctor Agnes Bennett / Cecil & Celia Manson; foreword J.C. Beaglehole; epilogue by Agnes Bennett. |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/21969812 |website=National Library of New Zealand}}) * ''Curtain-raiser to a Colony'' (Whitcombe & Tombs, 1962) * ''The Lonely One'' (Whitcombe & Tombs, 1963, also published in New York by Roy Publishers{{cite web |title=The lonely one / Cecil & Celia Manson; illustrated by Ian Armour-Chelu |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/20990913 |website=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=28 July 2022}} and in London by [Epworth Press](/source/Epworth_Press){{cite web |title=The lonely one / Cecil & Celia Manson; illustrated by Ian Armour-Chelu |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/21195515 |website=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=28 July 2022}}) (children's book) * ''Pioneer Parade'' (A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1966) * ''The Adventures of Johnny van Bart'' (Whitcombe & Tombs, 1965, also published in New York by Roy Publishers{{cite web |title=The adventures of Johnny van Bart / Cecil & Celia Manson; illustrated by Ian Armour-Chelu |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/21185768 |website=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=28 July 2022}} and in London by [Epworth Press](/source/Epworth_Press){{cite web |title=The adventures of Johnny van Bart / Cecil & Celia Manson; illustrated by Ian Armour-Chelu |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/21000163 |website=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=28 July 2022}}) (children's book) * ''I Take Up My Pen: An Early Colonial Scrapbook'' (Pigeon Press, 1972) *''The Affair of the Wellington Brig: A True and Terrible Story'' (Millwood Press, 1978) Manson separately authored: * ''Willow's Point'' (Museum Press, 1949) *''Story of a New Zealand Family'' (Cape Catley, 1974) *''The Widow of Thorndon Quay'' (Pigeon Press, 1981) == References == {{Reflist}} ==Bibliography== * {{cite book |editor1-first=Thelma |editor1-last=France |editor2-first=Hestia|editor2-last=Quinn |editor3-first=Roma|editor3-last=Henden |editor4-first=Isobelle |editor4-last=Ashforth | title=History of the New Zealand Women Writers' Society, 1932–1982 | publisher=The New Zealand Women Writers' Society | location=Wellington | year=1984 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eMlHAAAAYAAJ |access-date=21 July 2022 |isbn=0-9597705-0-X}} *{{cite book |editor1-first=Margaret |editor1-last=Hayward |editor2-first=Joy |editor2-last=Cowley| title=Women Writers of NZ 1932–1982, Jubilee History and Writings of the New Zealand Women Writers' Society | publisher=Colonial Associates | location=Wellington | year=1982 |isbn=0-9597585-4-2}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Manson, Celia}} Category:1908 births Category:1987 deaths Category:People from Carterton, New Zealand Category:People educated at Wairarapa College Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni Category:New Zealand women essayists Category:New Zealand women historians Category:New Zealand women children's writers Category:20th-century New Zealand women writers Category:20th-century New Zealand historians Category:20th-century New Zealand journalists Category:20th-century New Zealand women journalists Category:New Zealand children's writers Category:New Zealand essayists Category:New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Celia Manson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celia_Manson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celia_Manson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.