{{Short description|New Zealand writer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox writer <!-- For more information see :Template:Infobox Writer/doc. --> | name = Rosie Scott | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|AM}} | image = Rosie-Scott-park2.jpg | image_size = | alt = Portrait of Rosie Scott | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1948|03|22|df=y}} | birth_place = Wellington, New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|05|04|1948|03|22|df=y}}<ref name="obit" /> | death_place = Blue Mountains, Australia | resting_place = | occupation = {{Hlist|Novelist|poet|playwright|short-story writer|non-fiction writer|editor|lecturer}} | language = | nationality = | ethnicity = | citizenship = New Zealand and Australian | education = | alma_mater = {{unbulleted list|Auckland University|{{nowrap|Victoria University of Wellington}}|University of Western Sydney}} | period = | genre = Contemporary fiction | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | children = 2 | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | awards = Officer of the Order of Australia<br/>Bruce Mason Playwriting Award<br/>Sydney PEN Award | signature = | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|http://www.thesecondevolution.com/rosie/}} | portaldisp = }}
'''Rosie Scott''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|sep=,|AM}} (22 March 1948 – 4 May 2017) was a novelist, poet, playwright, short-story writer, non-fiction writer, editor and lecturer, with dual Australian and New Zealand citizenship.
==Early life and career== Rosie Scott was born in Wellington, New Zealand. Her father, Dick Scott, is a notable historian and journalist.<ref name="NZHeraldIV">{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10716512 |title=Michele Hewitson Interview: Dick Scott | work= The New Zealand Herald |last=Hewitson |first=Michele |date=2 April 2011 |accessdate=11 February 2012}}</ref> She completed a BA and Graduate Diploma of Drama at Auckland University, and an MA(Hons) in English at Victoria University of Wellington. Scott worked in a variety of careers, including as a social worker and in publishing, before becoming a full-time writer.<ref name="OxfordNZ">{{Cite book| editor1-last = Robinson | editor1-first = Roger | editor2-last = Wattie | editor2-first = Nelson | title =The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature | publisher=Oxford University Press | year =1998}}</ref>
==Work== Scott's first published work was a 1984 volume of poetry ''Flesh and Blood'', followed by the play ''Say Thank You to the Lady'', for which she won the prestigious Bruce Mason Playwriting Award in 1986.<ref name="OxfordNZ"/> In 1988, at the age of 40, Scott published her first novel, ''Glory Days''. It was shortlisted for the New Zealand Book Awards, and was published in New Zealand, Australia, Germany, UK and the US.<ref name="OxfordNZ"/> Scott then published five more novels, a short story collection and a collection of essays.
Scott was active in the Australian writing community in her work for Sydney PEN and the Australian Society of Authors (ASA). Scott served on the board and the executive of the ASA for ten years, during which time she was elected chair. In 2005, she was appointed to a permanent honorary position on the ASA Council.<ref name="asa">{{cite web |url=http://www.asauthors.org/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=ASP0016/ccms.r?PageId=10287 |title=Committee of Management |publisher= Australian Society of Authors |accessdate=23 January 2012}}</ref> She served as the Vice President of Sydney PEN, and was awarded the inaugural Sydney PEN Award in 2006 and was also awarded a Lifetime Membership of PEN.<ref name="penaward">{{cite web |url=http://pen.org.au/about-us/sydney-pen-award |title=The Sydney PEN Award |publisher=Sydney PEN |accessdate=23 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317135810/http://pen.org.au/about-us/sydney-pen-award |archivedate=17 March 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
Scott campaigned extensively on human rights issues in Australia, saying, "My writing is fuelled by me as a totality, but also by my political feelings."<ref name="QuoteIV">{{Cite journal |last=O'Neill |first=Rob |year=1996 |title= Passion and politics |journal= Quote Unquote |volume= 38 |page=26 |location=New Zealand }}</ref> With Tom Keneally, she co-edited an anthology of refugee writing, ''Another Country'', for which she was nominated for the 2004 Human Rights Medal.<ref name="medal">{{cite web |url=http://www.hreoc.gov.au/hr_awards/previous_winners/2004.html |title=2004 Human Rights Medal and Awards Winners |publisher=Australian Human Rights Commission |accessdate=23 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124120554/http://hreoc.gov.au/hr_awards/previous_winners/2004.html |archivedate=24 November 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> She was a co-founder of Women for Wik, a group dedicated to reconciliation with Aboriginal people in Australia.<ref name="wfw">{{cite web |url=http://www.whatsworking.com.au/about-us/history-of-women-for-wik |title=History of Women For Wik |publisher= Women For Wik |accessdate=23 January 2012}}</ref> In 2013 Scott co-edited another anthology on asylum seekers with Tom Keneally called ''A Country Too Far'' with some of Australia's greatest writers including Anna Funder, Geraldine Brooks, Rodney Hall, Christos Tsiolkas, Les Murray, Alex Miller and Kim Scott. It was described as a 'stunning anthology and searing moral work... timely, important and wise.'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.readings.com.au/review/a-country-too-far-by-thomas-keneally-and-rosie-scott |title=Work: A country too far by Thomas Keneally and Rosie Scott |work=Readings |date= |accessdate= |author= }}</ref> In 2014 she started the group "We're Better than This", a broad-based movement against refugee children in detention.
Scott completed a Diploma in Counselling and a Doctorate at the University of Western Sydney. She taught creative writing at the University of Technology Sydney, as well as working as a mentor for young and novice writers.<ref name="ScottOfficial">{{cite web|url=http://www.thesecondevolution.com/rosie/ |title=Rosie Scott – Official Website |accessdate=15 January 2012}}</ref>
In 2016 Scott was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for significant service to literature as an author, and to human rights and inter-cultural understanding.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/honours/ad/ad2016/dvvsf4sc1d05nwgt/Media%20Notes%20-%20AM%20%28M-Z%29.pdf |title=Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia (M-Z) |work=Australia Day 2016 Honours Lists |publisher=Office of the Governor-General of Australia |date=25 January 2016 |accessdate=10 February 2016 }}</ref> Later that year she was the recipient of the NSW Premier's Special Award for her "significant service to literature as an author".
==Critical response== Scott has been called a "significant voice in contemporary women's fiction" in Australia.<ref>{{Cite book| editor1-last=Wilde |editor1-first=William H. |editor2-last=Hooton |editor2-first=Joy | editor3-last=Andrews |editor3-first=Barry |title=The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1994 |isbn=0-19-553381-X}}</ref> Marilyn Stasio, reviewing ''Glory Days'' in the New York Times Book Review, described Scott's writing as "an introspective voice that's rich in poetry and raw with anguish". Writing in The Australian in 1990, John Macgregor described ''Nights With Grace'' as "one of the finest Antipodean novels of recent times".<ref name="NYRB">{{Cite journal |last=Stasio |first=Marilyn |journal=New York Times Book Review |title=Review: ''Glory Days'' |date=25 June 1989 |page=24 }}</ref> ''Faith Singer'' was chosen for the Orange Prize's 50 Essential Reads by Contemporary Writers in 2004.<ref name="orange">{{cite web |url=http://www.listsofbests.com/list/99-50-essential-reads-by-contemporary-authors |title=Orange Prize for Fiction's 50 Essential Reads by Contemporary Authors |publisher= Lists of Bests |accessdate=11 February 2012}}</ref> Her work has been shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, the Banjo Patterson Award, the New Zealand Book Awards and the Biennial Adelaide Festival Award.<ref name="nzbc">{{cite web |url=http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/scottrosie.html |title=Scott, Rosie |publisher=New Zealand Book Council |accessdate=14 February 2012}}</ref>
==Personal life== Scott was married to the director and writer, Danny Vendramini, and had two daughters. She died on 4 May 2017, from a brain tumour.<ref name="obit">{{cite web |url=http://tributes.smh.com.au/obituaries/smh-au/obituary.aspx?pid=185392004 |title=Rosie Scott Death Notice|publisher= Sydney Morning Herald |accessdate=29 May 2017}}</ref>
==Bibliography==
===Novels=== *''Glory Days'' (1988) *''Nights with Grace'' (1990) *''Feral City'' (1992) *''Lives on Fire'' (1993) *''Movie Dreams'' (1995) *''Faith Singer'' (2003)
===Short story collections=== *''Queen of Love'' (1989)
===Poetry=== *''Flesh and Blood'' (1984)
===Plays=== *''Say Thank You to the Lady'' (1985)
===Non-fiction and autobiography=== *''The Red Heart'' (1999)
===Editor=== *''Another Country'' (2014) (with Thomas Keneally) *''A Country Too Far'' (2004) (with Thomas Keneally) * ''The Intervention'' (2015) with Anita Heiss
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[http://www.thesecondevolution.com/rosie/ Official page] *[http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/.../rosie-scott/3566972 Rosie Scott radio interview with Phillip Adams] *[http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/scottrosie.html Rosie Scott page at the New Zealand Book Council] *[http://www.nzlf.auckland.ac.nz/author/?a_id=143 Rosie Scott in the New Zealand Literature File]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Rosie}} Category:1948 births Category:2017 deaths Category:Australian women poets Category:New Zealand women novelists Category:New Zealand women poets Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni Category:20th-century Australian novelists Category:21st-century Australian novelists Category:20th-century New Zealand novelists Category:21st-century New Zealand novelists Category:20th-century Australian women novelists Category:21st-century Australian women novelists Category:Academic staff of the University of Technology Sydney Category:Western Sydney University alumni Category:University of Auckland alumni Category:Members of the Order of Australia