World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Ashleigh Young

アシュリー・ヤング

Ashleigh Young

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1983 （Te Kūiti, New Zealand）
Nationality
New Zealander
Languages
English
Residence History
Te Kūiti → Wellington → London (several years)

Career

Occupations
poet, essayist, editor, creative writing teacher
Active Years
2009-
Affiliations
Victoria University Press (editor), The Spinoff Review of Books (poetry editor), New Zealand Society of Authors (Honorary Literary Fellow)
Memberships
New Zealand Society of Authors (Honorary Literary Fellow)
Influenced By
Bill Manhire, Jenny Bornholdt, Pip Adam, Hera Lindsay Bird, James Brown, Geoff Cochrane

Education

Victoria University of Wellington (International Institute of Modern Letters)
Creative Writing
Degree: MA
Period: 2008–2009
Year of Graduation: 2009
Country: New Zealand
MA in Creative Writing. MA portfolio won the Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing.

Awards

Landfall Essay Competition
2009
Organization: Otago University Press (Landfall)
Result: winner
Macmillan Brown Prize for Writers
2009
Organization: Macmillan Brown Centre
Result: winner
Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing
2009
Work: MA portfolio (including essays later published in Can You Tolerate This?)
Organization: Victoria University of Wellington (International Institute of Modern Letters)
Result: winner
Sarah Broom Poetry Prize (finalist)
2015
Organization: Sarah Broom Prize
Result: finalist
Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction
2017
Work: Can You Tolerate This?
Category: General Non-Fiction
Organization: Royal Society Te Apārangi
Result: winner
Windham-Campbell Prize
2017
Work: Can You Tolerate This?
Organization: Windham–Campbell Prizes (Yale University)
Result: winner
Rathbones Folio Prize (shortlist)
2019
Work: Can You Tolerate This?
Organization: The Folio Prize Foundation
Result: shortlisted

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Magnificent Moon

2012 Poetry

Early poetry collection exploring everyday details, memory, and intimacy with a delicate voice.

memoryeveryday lifeintimacy

Can You Tolerate This?

2016 Essay collection / Non-fiction

A collection of personal essays blending memoir and reflection on growing up in a small town in New Zealand, family, and identity; noted for its wry and understated voice.

coming of agefamilysmall-town lifeidentity

How I Get Ready

2019 Poetry

A poetry collection that examines personal routines, preparation, and everyday rituals.

ritualeveryday lifeself-observation

Bibliography

  • Magnificent Moon (2012)
  • Can You Tolerate This? (2016)
  • How I Get Ready (2019)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
honest, understated narrationwry observational voicepoetic sensibility in prose
Recurring Motifs
small-town memoriesfamily and domestic detailmovement and belonging

Legacy

Ashleigh Young is regarded as an important contemporary New Zealand voice in poetry and essays. She won the Windham-Campbell Prize in 2017, becoming the first New Zealander to receive it, and gained international attention for her candid, witty prose.

Academic Societies

  • New Zealand Society of Authors

Quotes

  • Honest, insightful prose that offers intimate and playful glimpses of coming of age in small-town New Zealand.
    Source: Windham–Campbell Prize judges (2017) (2017)

Trivia

  • First New Zealander to win the Windham-Campbell Prize (2017).
  • Can You Tolerate This? also won the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction (2017).
  • Works as an editor at Victoria University Press.