Briar Grace-Smith is a playwright and screenwriter from New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. Her first major play, Ngā Pou Wahine earned her the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award (1995). Her play Purapurawhetū won Best New Zealand Play at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards

Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards

The Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards are the theatre "Oscars" in New Zealand and honour the best stage talent and productions in the capital Wellington....

. In 2000, she received the Arts Foundation Laureate Award. In 2003, she was the Writer in Residence at Victoria University of Wellington. She is the screenwriter of the New Zealand feature film Strength of Water (2009). Her plays her toured in New Zealand and internationally.

The film Strength of Water premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival in January 2009. She was a finalist at the 2009 Qantas Film and TV Awards for Best Screenplay for a Feature Film.

Published

• 2007 When Sun and Moon Collide: Huia Publishers, 115 pages, ISBN 1-86969-316-7, 9781869693169
• 1999 Purapurawhetu: Huia Publishers, 111 pages, ISBN 0-908975-78-3, 9780908975785
• 1997 Nga Pou Wahine : Huia Publishers, 44 pages, Huia Publishers, ISBN 0-908975-26-0, 9780908975266