Craig Marriner
Encyclopedia
Craig Marriner is a novelist from Rotorua
, New Zealand
. His 2001 novel Stonedogs
won a Montana New Zealand Book Award
and in 2003 the film rights were sold to Australian production company Mushroom Pictures, a film based on the book is currently in production. His second novel Southern Style
was published in 2006. He is currently working on a third novel about a group of backpackers trekking through Europe during the 2003 invasion of Iraq
with the intention of getting a mining job, and worked doing geological sampling. He subsequently spend four years working in Europe.
, Kurt Vonnegut
and Hunter S Thompson, as well as journalist Robert Fisk
and Marxist
theorist Leon Trotsky
. His writing style has been compared to Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh
.
Rotorua
Rotorua is a city on the southern shores of the lake of the same name, in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. The city is the seat of the Rotorua District, a territorial authority encompassing the city and several other nearby towns...
, 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...
. His 2001 novel Stonedogs
Stonedogs
Stonedogs is the first novel by New Zealand writer Craig Marriner. It was published in 2001 and has won a Montana New Zealand Book Award. The book has been described as "a kind of A Clockwork Orange-meets-Once Were Warriors as imagined by Irvine Welsh"...
won a Montana New Zealand Book Award
Montana New Zealand Book Awards
The New Zealand Post Book Awards are a series of literary awards to works of New Zealand citizens. They were created in 1996, as a merge of the two previously most relevant awards in New Zealand: the Montana Book Awards and the New Zealand Book Awards...
and in 2003 the film rights were sold to Australian production company Mushroom Pictures, a film based on the book is currently in production. His second novel Southern Style
Southern Style
Southern Style is a 2006 novel by New Zealand writer Craig Marriner.The book is set in London and follows three young adults on their Overseas experience; Alex from New Zealand, Ryan from Australia and Lisa from South Africa. All are working in a distribution center...
was published in 2006. He is currently working on a third novel about a group of backpackers trekking through Europe during the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
Early life
Marriner was born in Rotorua and has a "strictly working-class background", his father was a forestry worker before being made redundant. He left secondary school before completing his final year, describing himself as being "on the edge of the rails by then." He moved to the remote town of Mount Magnet, Western AustraliaMount Magnet, Western Australia
Mount Magnet is an old Western Australian gold rush town. The name was chosen during exploration of the region due to an isolated hill 5 km north west of the town current townsite. This hill has an extremely high iron content and affected the compasses of explorers...
with the intention of getting a mining job, and worked doing geological sampling. He subsequently spend four years working in Europe.
Writing
He describes himself as wanting to be seen as "a Kiwi art house youth culture-type writer." Influences on his work are George OrwellGeorge Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
, Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
and Hunter S Thompson, as well as journalist Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States's war in Afghanistan and the same country's...
and Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
theorist Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
. His writing style has been compared to Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...
.