Former New Zealand Herald journalist Karen Holdom is this year’s winner of the University of Auckland’s Sir James Wallace Prize in Creative Writing.
Karen won the $5000 prize, the richest university creative writing prize in New Zealand, for her novel-in-progress The Shadow Road set in Nazi-controlled Saarland on the French-German border. It explores the devastating effects of the war on a divided family and region and was inspired by the author’s visit to a German military cemetery in Normandy.

The Faculty of Arts judging team, coordinated by Convenor of the Master of Creative Writing, Dr Paula Morris, described the novel-in-progress “as very accomplished, written with style, control and pace.

“The Shadow Road demonstrates the author’s ability to adapt a 'real' and little-known story from World War II into a compelling, often shocking work of fiction.”

Karen Holdom grew up in Taranaki, studied journalism in Auckland and worked for seven years as a reporter at the New Zealand Herald. She later became a freelancer, writing for a range of newspapers and magazines including Sunday Star Times, Metro, North & South, The Listener in New Zealand and The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Melbourne Age abroad. She has written two non-fiction books and researched a number of documentaries and television series.

Master of Creative Writing