{{Short description|New Zealand paediatrician, poet, playwright and librettist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox author | name = Renee Liang | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MNZM|size=100%}} | image = Renee Liang MNZM (cropped).jpg | alt = | caption = Liang in 2018 | birth_name = Renee Wen-Wei Liang | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1973}} | birth_place = New Zealand | occupation = Writer }} [[File:BigPaoMeetsPoetry.jpg|thumb|330x330px|L to R: Lynda Chanwai-Earle, Renee Laing, Chris Tse, Cadence Chung at "Lunar New Year celebration: Big pao meets poetry" National Library of New Zealand]] '''Renee Wen-Wei Liang''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MNZM|size=85%}} (born 1973) is a New Zealand paediatrician, poet, essayist, short story writer, playwright, librettist, theatre producer and medical researcher. She has been the recipient of several awards for her services to arts, science and medicine and is also noted for her services to the Chinese New Zealand community. She lives in Auckland.
== Biography == Liang was born in 1973.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=June 2019|title=Liang, Renee|url=https://www.read-nz.org/writer/liang-renee/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=Read NZ Te Pou Muramura}}</ref> She is a second generation Chinese New Zealander<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Renee Liang|url=https://www.playmarket.org.nz/playwrights/renee-liang/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=Playmarket}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Dr Renee Liang|url=http://www.nzasianleaders.com/our-members/renee-liang|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=New Zealand Asian Leaders}}</ref> and has two younger sisters, Rhea (a surgeon) and Roseanne (a filmmaker).<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=26 July 2017|title=Screen Sisters: Renee Liang and Roseanne Liang in Conversation|url=https://www.pantograph-punch.com/posts/renee-liang-roseanne-liang-in-conversation|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=The Pantograph Punch}}</ref>
She attended St Cuthbert's College<ref name=":26">{{Cite web|last=Liang|first=Renee|date=10 May 2009|title=Making Their Mark|url=https://oldgirls.stcuthberts.school.nz/making-their-mark|archive-url=|archive-date=|website=St Cuthbert's College}}</ref> and graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery in 1996, a Master of Creative Writing in 2007 and a Postgraduate Diploma of Arts (Theatre) in 2009.<ref name=":0" /> She also holds a specialist qualification as a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Dr Renee Liang, 2010 Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award Recipient|url=https://gg.govt.nz/images/dr-renee-liang|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=The Governor General}}</ref>
She has toured eight plays to festivals and venues nationally.<ref name=":1" /> Her poetry and short stories have been published in both New Zealand and overseas journals and websites such as New Zealand Listener, JAAM, Blackmail Press, Tongue in your Ear, Sidestream and Magazine.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Dr Renee Liang, of Auckland, MNZM, for services to the arts|url=https://gg.govt.nz/file/24566|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=The Governor General}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Liang|first=Renee|date=10 May 2019|title=The Friday Poem: Contents of a mummy Tardis handbag by Renee Liang|url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/10-05-2019/the-friday-poem-contents-of-a-mummy-tardis-handbag-by-renee-liang/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=The Spinoff}}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=March 2012|title=About Renee Liang|url=https://newkiwiwomenstories.wordpress.com/about-renee-liang/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=New Kiwi Women Write Their Stories}}</ref> Liang's play ''The Bone Feeder'' was commissioned as an opera through Carla Van Zon, and performed as an opera on 23 March 2017 at the Auckland Arts Festival.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Wilson|first=Simon|date=2017-04-16|title=The last dance of Carla van Zon|url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/auckland/16-04-2017/the-last-dance-of-carla-van-zon/|access-date=2021-06-06|website=The Spinoff}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=The Bone Feeder|url=https://www.sounz.org.nz/works/22931|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=SOUNZ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Hooper|first=Michael|date=24 March 2017|title=Moving libretto, genius musical amalgam|url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=10091|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=Theatreview}}</ref> Her Interactive digital narrative work ''Golden Threads'' was created in partnership with illustrator Allan Xia as part of Auckland Museum's 2017 exhibition "Being Chinese in Aotearoa: A photographic journey".<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=华夏人与长白云故乡 Being Chinese in Aotearoa: A photographic journey|url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/visit/exhibitions/being-chinese-in-aotearoa-a-photographic-journey|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=Auckland War Memorial Museum}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Golden Threads {{!}} 黄金线索|url=https://allanxia.itch.io/golden-threads|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=Allan Xia}}</ref>
She has also run many community writing workshops, including a programme for migrant women called New Kiwi Women Write Their Stories,<ref name=":11" /> and from these has produced a number of anthologies of migrant women’s writing.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> The Kitchen is a writing workshop based around sharing stories in local neighbourhoods.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=The Kitchen|url=http://www.artswhau.org.nz/project/the-kitchen/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=Arts Whau}}</ref>
As a paediatrician, she has a special interest in child health and adolescent health and leads the Asian Advisory Group for the longitudinal project Growing Up In New Zealand.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Theme Leads: Dr Renee Liang: Asian|url=https://growingup.co.nz/node/926|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=Growing Up in New Zealand}}</ref><ref name=":10" />
Liang lives in Auckland.
== Honours and awards == Liang's play ''The Quiet Room'' was shortlisted for the Adam NZ Play Award in 2014; it also won the teen section of Playmarket’s Plays for the Young in 2014 and the NZ Writers Guild SWANZ (Script Writer Awards New Zealand) Award for Best Play in 2016.<ref name=":0" /> ''Under the Same Moon'' was a finalist in the SWANZ Best Play Awards in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=SWANZ Awards|url=https://www.nzwg.org.nz/swanz|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=NZ Writers Guild}}</ref> Golden Threads won the Play by Play Award for Diversity in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=2017 Winners|url=https://nzgamesfest.com/2017-winners/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=NZ Games Festival}}</ref>
In 2010, Liang was the recipient of the Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award for her achievements in arts, science and medicine.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":0" /> In 2012, she won the non-fiction category of the Royal Society Manhire Prize in Science Writing for Creative Non-Fiction with her piece ''Epigenetics: navigating our inner seas''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=22 November 2012|title=Manhire Prize for Creative Science Writing Announced|url=https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC1211/S00063/manhire-prize-for-creative-science-writing-announced.htm|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=Scoop}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=22 November 2012|title=Creative Science Writing Prize|url=https://www.thebigidea.nz/news/industry-news/2012/nov/124119-creative-science-writing-prize|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=The Big Idea}}</ref>
She received the NZ Chinese Society (Auckland Branch) Senior Achievement award in 2012<ref name=":10" /> and won the Arts and Culture category of the NEXT Woman of the Year Awards in 2018.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Wylie|first=Liz|date=16 October 2018|title=Whanganui's Kotuku Foundation founder Merenia Donne named in Woman of the Year awards|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/diversity/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503294&objectid=12142546|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=NZ herald}}</ref>
She was a recipient of the D’Arcy Writers Grant in 2018<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=20 December 2017|title=Winners of the 2018 D'Arcy Writers' Grants – Renee Liang and Mary Paul|url=https://authors.org.nz/winners-of-the-2018-darcy-writers-grants-renee-liang-and-mary-paul/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=NZSA The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa PEN NZ Inc}}</ref> and her resulting essay, ''A Kete Half Empty, was'' published in ''North & South'' in January 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Liang|first=Renee|date=15 January 2020|title=A Kete Half Empty: Why poverty in New Zealand is everyone's concern|url=https://writeupnorth.co.nz/2020/01/15/a-kete-half-empty-why-poverty-in-new-zealand-is-everyones-concern-essay-by-dr-renee-liang/comment-page-1/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=Write Up North}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Liang|first=Renee|date=15 January 2020|title=A Kete Half Empty: Why poverty in New Zealand is everyone's concern|url=https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/currently-currently/poverty-new-zealand-kete-half-empty|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=Noted: North and South}}</ref>
In the 2018 New Year Honours, Liang was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the arts.<ref name=":2" />
== Published works == ;Poetry * ''Chinglish (''Soapbox Press, 2008) * ''Banana'' (Monster Fish Publishing, 2008) * ''Cardiac Cycle,'' illustrated by Cat Auburn (Monster Fish Publishing, 2008) * ''Towards the Cyclone'' (Monster Fish Publishing, 2010)
;Plays, operas and musicals * ''First Asian AB'' * ''Lantern'' (2009) * ''The Bone Feeder'' (2010) a play and an opera<ref name=":3" /> * ''The Quiet Room'' (2013) * ''Under the Same Moon'' (2015) * ''Dominion Road the Musical'' with music composed by Jun Bin Lee (2017) * ''The Bone Feeder'': adapted as an opera with music composed by Gareth Farr (2017)<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=9 March 2017|title=Good to be here, Dargaville! Playwrights Jamie McCaskill, Renee Liang and Jess Sayer on Process|url=https://www.pantograph-punch.com/posts/interview-mccaskill-liang-sayer|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=The Pantograph Punch}}</ref><ref name=":5" /> * ''Sofija's Garden'' (2019)<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Sofija's Garden|url=https://www.goingwestfest.co.nz/going-west-2019-main-programme/2019/9/7/sofias-garden|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=Going West Writers Festival}}</ref>
;Digital * ''Golden Threads'' (2017)
;Non-fiction * ''When We Remember To Breathe: Mess, Magic and Mothering'' with Michele Powles (Magpie Pulp, 2019)<ref>{{Cite web|last=Botur|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Botur|date=3 May 2019|title=Northland doctor Renee Liang launches new book 'When We Remember To Breathe'|url=https://writeupnorth.co.nz/2019/05/03/northland-doctor-renee-liang-launches-new-book-when-we-remember-to-breathe/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=15 August 2020|website=Write Up North}}</ref>
;As editor * ''New beginnings: new Kiwi women write their stories'' (Monster Fish Publishing, 2012) * ''New flights: writing from Kiwi migrant women'' (Monster Fish Publishing, 2015)
== External links ==
* Profile of [https://www.playmarket.org.nz/playwrights/renee-liang/ Renee Liang] on Playmarket website * Profile of [https://www.read-nz.org/writer/liang-renee/ Renee Liang] on Read NZ Te Pou Muramura website * Profile of [http://www.nzasianleaders.com/our-members/renee-liang Dr Renee Liang] on NZ Asian Leaders website *
== References == {{Reflist}}{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liang, Renee}} Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:New Zealand paediatricians Category:University of Auckland alumni Category:Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit Category:21st-century New Zealand dramatists and playwrights Category:Writers from Auckland Category:New Zealand women dramatists and playwrights Category:New Zealand people of Chinese descent Category:People educated at St Cuthbert's College, Auckland