Jessica Le Bas
Jessica Le Bas | |
|---|---|
 Le Bas at the Sarah Broom Poetry Prize ceremony at Auckland Writers Festival 2019, in Auckland, New Zealand | |
| Language | English |
| Alma mater | University of Auckland |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Notable works | Incognito, Walking to Africa |
| Notable awards | NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry, Sarah Broom Poetry Prize 2019 |
Jessica Le Bas is a Nelson-based poet from New Zealand.
Background[edit]
Le Bas received her MA(Hons) from the University of Auckland.[1]
Career[edit]
During the Balkan Wars, Le Bas worked for the United Nations as a Training Consultant for UNPROFOR. She has worked at the Beehive in Wellington as Private Secretary to a government Minister. She took Owen Marshall’s Fiction Writing Course at Aoraki Polytechnic in 1997, and later received a writers' grant from Creative New Zealand.[1]
Le Bas has published two collections of poetry, Incognito in 2007,[2] and Walking to Africa in 2009.[3] In 2010, she published her first children's book, Staying Home: My True Diary of Survival, under the pseudonym ‘Jesse O’.[4] In 2021 the novel was re-released by Penguin Books New Zealand as Locked Down, and was illustrated by Toby Morris.[5] Le Bas and her novel featured at the 2021 Auckland Writers' Festival as part of the Schools' Programme.[6]
Poems by Le Bas have appeared in Landfall,[7] Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook,[8] and the Best New Zealand Poems series in 2007.[9] She has also published in a number of other literary journals including Sport,[10] Blackmail Press,[11][12] and Trout.[13] She was featured in issue 32 of Poetry New Zealand.[14]
Awards[edit]
Incognito won the 2007 NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.[15]
In 2007, she received a New Zealand Mental Health Foundation Media Grant to write Walking to Africa, which was a finalist in the Ashton Wylie Book Awards.[1][16]
Le Bas has also won the New Zealand Poetry Society International Poetry Competition, 2005 Bravado Poetry Competition,[14] and been shortlisted in the Landfall Essay Competition.[1][17]
In 2019, she won the 2019 Sarah Broom Poetry Prize[18] with a short collection of poems titled Large Ocean Islands that arose from living and working in the Cook Islands between 2017 and 2020.[19]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d "Jessica Le Bas". Auckland University Press. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^ Le Bas, Jessica (2007). Incognito. Auckland University Press. ISBN 9781869403928.
- ^ Le Bas, Jessica (2009). Walking to Africa. Auckland University Press. ISBN 9781869403928.
- ^ "Staying Home, by Jesse O". fishpond.co.nz. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ "Locked Down, by Jesse O". penguin.co.nz. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
- ^ "Auckland Writers Festival 2021 Schools Programme Hōtaka Kura" (PDF). writersfestival.co.nz. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
- ^ "Landfall 240: Spring 2020". otago.ac.nz. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
- ^ "Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2023". masseypress.ac.nz. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
- ^ "Best New Zealand Poems 2007". nzetc.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^ "Jessica Le Bas — incognito, my love". NZETC. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^ "Blackmail Press 24". Blackmail Press. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^ "BMP13 The 36 inch bust issue". Blackmail Press. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^ Le Bas, Jessica. "Jessica Le Bas: snap shots". Trout. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^ a b "Poetry New Zealand Issue 32". Poetry New Zealand. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^ "Past Winners by Author". New Zealand Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^ "Winner announced ‐ Sarah Broom Poetry Prize 2019". Booksellers. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
- ^ "Jessica Le Bas - Best New Zealand Poems 2007". nzetc.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^ "Winner announced ‐ Sarah Broom Poetry Prize 2019". Sarah Broom Poetry Prize. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
- ^ "Sarah Broom Poetry Prize - Winner 2019 Jessica Le Bas". Sarah Broom Poetry Prize. Retrieved 17 February 2023.