Joanne Drayton

Joanne Drayton (2017) is an acclaimed New Zealand author whose output is globally recognized. Her book, “The Search for Anne Perry” was numbered in the top 10 nonfiction books on the 2015 New York Times bestseller list. It was a finalist in the prestigious New Zealand Book Awards in August 2013, it was the subject of a “60 Minutes” program, a cover story for the NZ Listener and has been optioned for a feature film. Her critically acclaimed “Ngaio Marsh: Her Life in Crime” (2008) was a Christmas pick of the Independent newspaper when it was released in the UK in 2009. Her other biographies of expatriate painters include “Frances Hodgkins: A Private Viewing” (Random House, 2005); “Rhona Haszard: An Experimental Expatriate NZ Artist” (CUP, 2002); and “Edith Collier: Her Life and Work” (CUP, 1999). She has curated exhibitions and publishes in art history, theory and biography. In 2007, she was awarded a National Library Fellowship for a year to write a biography of Ngaio Marsh.

Drayton will use her residency at the Carey Institute to begin writing a book on Peter Hudson and David Halls, a gay couple who became celebrity chefs on television in New Zealand and the UK in the 1970s and 1980s. The book is due to Otago University Press by August 2017.