Maurice Gee

Maurice Gough Gee (22 August 1931 – 12 June 2025) was a New Zealand novelist. He was one of New Zealand's most distinguished and prolific authors, having written over thirty novels for adults and children, and having won numerous awards both in New Zealand and overseas, including multiple top prizes at the New Zealand Book Awards, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in the UK, the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship, the Robert Burns Fellowship and a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement. In 2003, he was recognised as one of New Zealand's greatest living artists across all disciplines by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, which presented him with an Icon Award.

Gee's novel Plumb (1978) was described by the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature to be one of the best novels ever written in New Zealand.<ref name="OCNZL"/> He was also well-known for children's and young adult fiction such as Under the Mountain (1979). He won multiple top prizes at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and in 2002 he was presented with the prestigious Margaret Mahy Award by the Children's Literature Foundation in recognition of his contributions to children's literature.

Early life and education

Gee was born in Whakatāne, and brought up in Henderson, a suburb of Auckland, a location that frequently features in his writing.<ref name="OCNZL">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="bkcouncilbio">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Arts Foundation">Template:Cite web</ref> His mother, Harriet Lyndahl Gee (Template:Nee), was a socialist and an aspiring writer who had some of her work published, including a children's picture book called Mihi and the Last of the Moas (1943),<ref name="Interview Natlib">Template:Cite web</ref> and his father, Leonard Gee, was a carpenter. He was the middle child of their three sons.<ref name="Matthews">Template:Cite news</ref> Gee was also the grandson of controversial Presbyterian-turned-Unitarian minister James Chapple, later to be the inspiration for Gee's character George Plumb in his Plumb trilogy (1978).<ref name="Matthews" /><ref name="Best 50">Template:Cite news</ref>

Gee attended Henderson Primary School and Avondale College, and completed BA and MA degrees at the University of Auckland, which subsequently recognised him with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 1998, and an honorary Doctorate of Literature in 2004.<ref name="UoA">Template:Cite web</ref> He also received an honorary Doctorate of Literature from Victoria University of Wellington in 1987.<ref name="VUW 1989">Template:Cite book</ref>

Literary career

Early career: 1950 to 1977

Gee began writing at university, and had short stories published in New Zealand journals Landfall and Mate.<ref name="OCNZL"/> After finishing his MA he taught in the secondary department of Paeroa District High School for about 18 months, starting in February 1955, but resigned in July 1956 to focus on his writing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Britannica">Template:Cite web</ref> In January 1960 and December 1961, he was awarded literary grants by the New Zealand Literary Fund.<ref name="250 pounds">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="500 pounds">Template:Cite news</ref>

His first published novel was The Big Season (1962),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> a novel about a rugby player who becomes interested in a burglar and the burglar's girlfriend. It had themes of violence and tension, and was described by The New Zealand Herald as "not always pleasant, but certainly forceful and sincere". Gee himself was a keen rugby player and the games in the novel were inspired by his own experiences.<ref name="OCNZL" /> In 1964, Gee was the sixth recipient of the Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago, one of New Zealand's most prestigious literary awards.<ref name="Burns">Template:Cite news</ref> During this fellowship he wrote his second novel, A Special Flower (1965).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> After the fellowship he trained as a librarian and in the 1960s and 1970s worked at the Alexander Turnbull Library, the Napier library and several libraries in Auckland.<ref name="Interview Natlib" />

His third novel, In My Father's Den, a mystery novel, was published in 1972.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This novel was later adapted into the critically acclaimed film of the same name by director Brad McGann in 2004. Gee followed this novel with a collection of short stories, A Glorious Morning, Comrade (1974),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which won the prize for fiction at the 1976 New Zealand Book Awards,<ref name="Book Awards">Template:Cite web</ref> and a further novel Games of Choice (1976).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Plumb and children's fiction: 1978 to 1991

Gee's novel Plumb, published in 1978, is his best-known work for adults, and is considered one of the best novels ever written in New Zealand.<ref name="OCNZL" /> In 2018, fifty New Zealand literary experts voted it to be the best novel of the last fifty years.<ref name="Best 50" /> Gee described it as his "grandfather novel", with the character George Plumb closely based on his mother's father James Chapple, particularly his early life and his trials for heresy and seditious utterance.<ref name="Best 50" /><ref name="Johnston" /> It won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in the UK,<ref name="Tait">Template:Cite web</ref> and the top prize for fiction at both the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards and the New Zealand Book Awards in 1979.<ref name="Book Awards"/> The novel and its two sequels, Meg (1981) and Sole Survivor (1983), explore the impacts of history, politics and religion on one family from the perspectives of different members.<ref name="OCTCLE">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Meg won the top prize for fiction at the New Zealand Book Awards in 1982.<ref name="Book Awards"/>

At this time Gee also published his first children's novel, Under the Mountain (1979), a science fiction story set in Auckland, New Zealand, about 11-year-old twins who discover aliens under volcanic Lake Pupuke. It has remained in print since it was published and is considered a New Zealand classic.<ref name="Exploring">Template:Cite web</ref> It has been adapted into a 1981 television miniseries, a 2009 film and a stage show.<ref name="Simei-Barton">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2004, Under the Mountain was the recipient of the Gaelyn Gordon Award, awarded annually to a "much-loved" New Zealand children's book that did not win any awards at the time of its publication.<ref name="Gaelyn">Template:Cite web</ref> It was followed by other children's books, including notably the science fiction trilogy beginning with The Halfmen of O (1982),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which won the AIM Children's Book Awards Book of the Year Award in 1983,<ref name="AIM">Template:Cite web</ref> and Motherstone (1985), which was awarded the Esther Glen Award by LIANZA.<ref name="Esther">Template:Cite web</ref>

In order to improve his income, Gee began working in television writing, including writing for 11 episodes of soap opera Close to Home and episodes of police drama Mortimer's Patch.<ref name="Johnston" /><ref name="NZOS">Template:Cite web</ref> Two of his children's books, The Fire-Raiser (1986) and The Champion (1989) originated as television projects.<ref name="NZOS" /> The Champion was shortlisted for the 1990 Esther Glen Award.<ref name="Esther"/> In 1987, he was recognised by Victoria University of Wellington with the award of an honorary Doctorate of Literature, and in 1989 he held a Victoria University writing fellowship.<ref name="VUW 1989" /> Around this time he wrote two adult novels set in Nelson: Prowlers (1987)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and The Burning Boy (1990).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Burning Boy was awarded the top prize for fiction at the 1991 New Zealand Book Awards.<ref name="Book Awards"/>

Later career and legacy: 1992 to 2025

Plaque on chair installed by the Maitai River in 2011 by the New Zealand Society of Authors in honour of Gee<ref name="O'Connell">Template:Cite news</ref>

The publication of Gee's tenth novel, Going West (1992),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> cemented his reputation as one of the best writers in New Zealand.<ref name="Johnston" /> It is the most autobiographical of Gee's fictional novels, and the fictional town of Loomis, in which the novel is set, has many similarities to Henderson, Auckland, where Gee grew up.<ref name="bkcouncilbio" /><ref name="OCNZL"/> The novel was the inspiration for the Going West Books & Writers Festival, Auckland's first literary festival, which has been held since 1996.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It won the top prize for fiction at the 1993 Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards.<ref name="Book Awards"/> In 1993, Andro Linklater, writing in British newspaper The Sunday Times, said that "Gee deserves to be regarded as one of the finest writers at work, not only in New Zealand ... but in the English speaking world".<ref name="Sharp">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Johnston">Template:Cite news</ref>

Gee was the 1992 recipient of the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship, a literary fellowship that enables the recipient to work in Menton, France, for part of the year, where Katherine Mansfield herself lived and worked in the early 20th century.<ref name="bkcouncilbio" /> During his time in Menton, Gee wrote the novel Crime Story,<ref name="Johnston" /> which was published in 1994.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A decade later it was adapted by Larry Parr into the 2004 film Fracture. The film was praised by Christchurch newspaper The Press as "competent, confident and complex".<ref name="NZOS" />

The Fat Man (1994)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> won the AIM Children's Book of the Year award and the Esther Glen Award.<ref name="AIM" /><ref name="Esther">Template:Cite web</ref> It was controversial for its content and portrayal of violence, with Gee himself describing it as a "psychological thriller for children".<ref name="Holloway">Template:Cite journal</ref> In 1998, he published Live Bodies, a novel for adults that was awarded both the top prize for fiction and the Deutz Medal at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards that year.<ref name="Book Awards"/> Other notable works in the late 1990s included the children's books Orchard Street (1998) and Hostel Girl (1999).<ref name="Book Awards"/> His contributions to New Zealand children's literature were recognised by the Children's Literature Foundation in 2002 which presented him with the prestigious Margaret Mahy Award.<ref name="Book Awards"/><ref name="ChristchurchLibraries">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="StorylinesMargaretMahyAward">Template:Cite web</ref>

In the early 2000s, Gee's novels included Ellie and the Shadow Man (2001), which was short-listed for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2002, and The Scornful Moon (2003), which was short-listed for Best Book in the South Pacific & South East Asian Region of the 2004 Commonwealth Writers' Prize and a runner-up in the fiction category at the 2004 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.<ref name="bkcouncilbio" /> Gee also received two prestigious awards: in 2003 he was named as one of New Zealand's greatest living artists by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand through the presentation of an Icon Award (recipients being limited to a living circle of 20),<ref name="Arts Foundation" /> and in 2004 he received a Template:NZ$60,000 Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement for fiction.<ref name="PM">Template:Cite web</ref> His 2005 novel Blindsight won the Deutz Medal, the top prize for fiction and (jointly) the Readers' Choice Award at the 2006 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.<ref name="Book Awards"/> His 2007 novel Salt won the award for young adult fiction at the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards.<ref name="Book Awards"/> Salt and its sequel, Gool, were both listed as Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction Books.<ref name="bkcouncilbio" /> The third novel in the trilogy, The Limping Man (2010), was a finalist in the young adult fiction category at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.<ref name="bkcouncilbio" /> In 2012, he was the inaugural Honoured New Zealand Writer at the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2015, Rachel Barrowman's biography of Gee, Maurice Gee: Life and Work, was published by Victoria University Press. The book was critically well-received, and Gee said Barrowman's research was "thorough, unrelenting, illuminating — illuminating even for me".<ref name="bkcouncilbio" /> Although Gee said in 2012 that he did not expect to write another novel,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Severed Land was published in 2017 and received the top award for young adult fiction at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in that same year.<ref name="Book Awards"/>

In 2018, Gee published his memoir Memory Pieces.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The memoir is in three parts: the first about his parents' lives, the second about his own childhood and adolescent years, and the third about his wife. He said it was "almost certainly" going to be his last book.<ref name="Gooch">Template:Cite news</ref> It was shortlisted for the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction at the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Style and themes

Gee's novels are commonly set in New Zealand, often in fictitious versions of Henderson, where he grew up.<ref name="NZOS" /> His adult novels tend to be realistic portrayals of New Zealand life, often featuring dysfunctional families and relationships, while his children's and young adult novels tend to be fantasies or science fiction.<ref name="NZOS"/><ref name="Britannica"/> Even in his children's novels, his writing often features bleak or tragic moments.<ref name="Hale">Template:Cite web</ref> The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature (2006) said that each of Gee's novels "bountifully gives us a rich vision of some region and aspect of New Zealand life, and of human life in general ... Yet there is always an awareness of living at the edge of an abyss: one false move and we shall leave this abundance for nothingness."<ref name="OCNZL" />

Personal life

Gee had a seven-year relationship with Hera Smith, with whom he had a son, Nigel, in September 1959. They separated in the 1960s.<ref name="Smithies">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Harbourne">Template:Cite news</ref>

Gee married his wife Margareta in 1970, having met in 1966 at the Alexander Turnbull Library where she worked.<ref name="Matthews" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They had two adult daughters together, Abigail and Emily. Abigail works as an animator,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Emily is a writer who has published fantasy and historical novels.<ref name="Gooch" /> Gee said in 2018 that meeting Margareta changed his life: "I was 38 when we got together and was drifting and wasting my time and only pretending to be a writer. She brought stability of every kind into my life – and as I point out in Running on the Stairs, two novels and a handful of stories before meeting her, more than 30 novels since."<ref name="Matthews" />

Template:As of, he lived in Nelson with his wife and considered himself to be retired from writing.<ref name="O'Connell">Template:Cite news</ref> Gee considered himself an evolutionary humanist.<ref name="Interview Natlib" /> He was an Honorary Associate of the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Gee died in Nelson on 12 June 2025, at the age of 93.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He supported end of life choice.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Awards and honours

• 1960: Literary grant from the New Zealand Literary Fund<ref name="250 pounds"/>
• 1961: Scholarship in Letters from the New Zealand Literary Fund<ref name="500 pounds"/>
• 1964: Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago<ref name="Burns"/>
• 1978: James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Plumb (1978)<ref name="Tait"/>
• 1979: 1st Prize for Fiction at the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards for Plumb (1978)<ref name="Book Awards"/>
• 1979: Fiction Prize at the New Zealand Book Awards for Plumb (1978)<ref name="Book Awards"/>
• 1983: AIM Children's Book Awards Book of the Year for The Halfmen of O (1982)<ref name="AIM" />
• 1986: Esther Glen Award for Motherstone (1985)<ref name="Esther"/>
• 1987: Honorary Doctorate of Literature from Victoria University of Wellington<ref name="VUW 1989"/>
• 1989: Victoria University of Wellington Writing Fellowship<ref name="VUW 1989"/>
• 1992: Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship<ref name="bkcouncilbio" />
• 1993: 1st Prize for Fiction at the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards for Going West (1993)<ref name="Book Awards"/>
• 1995: Esther Glen Award for The Fat Man (1995)<ref name="Esther"/>
• 1995: AIM Children's Book Awards Book of the Year for The Fat Man (1995)<ref name="AIM" />
• 1998: Deutz Medal for fiction at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards for Live Bodies (1998)<ref name="Book Awards"/>
• 2002: Margaret Mahy Award for significant contributions to children's literature<ref name="ChristchurchLibraries"/><ref name="StorylinesMargaretMahyAward"/>
• 2003: Named an Arts Foundation Icon in 2003<ref name="Arts Foundation" />
• 2004: Gaelyn Gordon Award for Under the Mountain<ref name="Gaelyn"/>
• 2004: $60,000 Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement for fiction<ref name="PM"/>
• 2004: Honorary Doctorate of Literature from the University of Auckland<ref name="UoA"/>
• 2006: Deutz Medal for Fiction at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards for Blindsight (2005)<ref name="Book Awards"/>
• 2008: New Zealand Post Young Adult Fiction Award for Salt (2007)<ref name="Book Awards"/>
• 2017: New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults Copyright Licensing NZ Award for Young Adult Fiction for The Severed Land (2017)<ref name="Book Awards"/>

Adaptations

Feature films

• Fracture (2004) based on Crime Story<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• In My Father's Den (2004)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Under the Mountain (2009)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Television

• Under the Mountain (1981) eight-part miniseries<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Theatre

• Under the Mountain theatrical play by Auckland Theatre Company. Playwright Pip Hall, directed by Sara Brodie (2018)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bibliography

Novels and non-fiction

• The Big Season. London: Hutchinson, 1962. London: Arrow, 1964. Wellington: Allen & Unwin, 1985. <ref name="Publications">Template:Cite web</ref>
• A Special Flower. London: Hutchinson, 1965.
• In My Father's Den. London: Faber, 1972. Auckland: Oxford UP, 1978. Template:ISBN
• A Glorious Morning, Comrade. Auckland: Auckland UP and Oxford UP, 1975.
• Games of Choice. London: Faber, 1976. Auckland: Oxford UP, 1978.
• Plumb. London: Faber, 1978. Auckland: Oxford UP, 1979<ref name="Publications" /> (Part 1 of the Plumb trilogy).
• Under the Mountain. Wellington: Oxford UP, 1979.<ref name="Publications" />
• The World Around the Corner. Wellington: Oxford UP, 1980.
• Meg. London: Faber, 1981. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1982. Auckland: Penguin<ref name="Publications" /> (Part 2 of the Plumb trilogy).
• The Halfmen of O. Auckland: Oxford UP, 1982. Harmondsworth: Puffin, 1986.
• Sole Survivor. London: Faber, 1983. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1983. Auckland: Penguin, 1983<ref name="Publications" /> (Part 3 of the Plumb trilogy).
• The Priests of Ferris. Auckland: Oxford UP, 1984.
• Motherstone. Auckland: Oxford UP, 1985.
• The Fire-Raiser. Auckland: Puffin, 1986.
• Collected Stories. Auckland: Penguin, 1986. New York: Penguin, 1987.
• Prowlers. London and Boston: Faber, 1987.
• The Champion. Auckland: Puffin, 1989; New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.
• The Burning Boy. London: Faber, 1990, 1992; Auckland: Viking, 1990.
• Going West. Auckland: Viking, 1992; London: Faber, 1992; Auckland: Penguin, 2000.
• Crime Story.Auckland: Penguin Books, 1994; Auckland: Viking, 1994; London: Faber, 1995.
• The Fat Man. Auckland: Viking, 1994; Auckland: Puffin, 2000; Auckland: Puffin, 2008.
• Plumb Trilogy. Auckland: Penguin, 1995 (Plumb, Meg, & Sole Survivor).
• Loving Ways. Auckland: Penguin, 1996.
• Live Bodies. Auckland: Penguin, 1998; London: Faber, 1998; Scheuring: Black Ink, 2002 (German edition).
• Orchard Street. Auckland: Viking, 1998.
• Hostel Girl. Auckland: Puffin, 1999.
• Ellie and the Shadow Man. Auckland: Penguin, 2001.
• The Scornful Moon. Auckland: Penguin, 2003.
• Blindsight. Auckland: Penguin, 2005.
• Salt. Auckland: Puffin, 2007.
• Gool. Auckland: Puffin, 2008.
• Access Road. Auckland: Penguin, 2009.
• The Limping Man. Auckland: Puffin, 2010.
• The Severed Land. Auckland: Penguin Random House, 2017.
• Memory Pieces. Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2018.

Short stories: first publication

• "In at the Death", Kiwi (1955): 21–26.
• "The Widow", Landfall 9 (1955): 196–213. In GMC, CS.<ref name="Publications" />
• "Evening at Home", Arena 45 (1956): 23–24.
• "The Quarry", Arena 46 (1957): 6–10, 13.
• "A Sleeping Face", Landfall 11 (1957): 194–221. In GMC, CS.
• "A Girl in Blue", Mate 2 (1958): 10–19.
• "While the Flag was Up", Arena 50 (1958–59): 13–17, 28.
• "The Losers", Landfall 13 (1959): 120–47. In Landfall Country: Work from Landfall, 1947–1961. Christchurch: Caxton Press, 1962, 24–56. In New Zealand Short Stories, Second Series. Ed. C. K. Stead. London: Oxford UP, 1966, 255–95. In GMC, CS.
• "Facade", Mate 4 (1960): 26–33.
• "Schooldays", Mate December 1960: 2–11. In GMC, CS.
• "The Champion", Landfall 20 (1966): 113–25. In GMC, CS.
• "Down in the World", Landfall 21 (1967): 296–302. In GMC, CS.
• "A Retired Life", Landfall 23 (1969): 101–16. In GMC, CS.

See also

• New Zealand literature

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• More information about Maurice Gee's life and works is available at Read NZ Te Pou Muramura
• Academic essay with citations: Dickensian grotesque in Maurice Gee's "The Fat Man"
• Maurice Gee Collection at the Alexander Turnbull Library