Jo Randerson (1973- )

Born in Auckland and raised in Wellington, where she gained a BA in Theatre and Film from Victoria, Randerson won the Adam Prize, for best creative writing portfolio, in 1996 and is now being described as “a true pioneer for the post-something generation.” Her short stories and prose poems tend toward the more experimental side of fable, often with a philosophical theme, sharp characters and a dark sense of humour. Randerson’s acute ear for dialogue is evident in both her writing for the page and the stage. Her first book, The Spit Children has been described as funny, troubled, yet cracking hardy. Randerson’s other published books are The Knot (1998) and The Keys to Hell (2004). In a review for The Keys to Hell in Landfall 209 Anna Smith writes that “provocation, not subtlety, is the writer’s special effect”. You’ll also find her writing in literary journals such as Sport, Landfall and Glottis, and anthologies, including The Picnic Virgin (1999). Randerson is currently the Artistic Director of Barbarian Productions, a Wellington-based theatre production company, which she founded herself. Fold (2004), and Banging Cymbal, Clanging Gong are among the many plays that Randerson has written. Randerson won the Sunday Star Times Bruce Mason Award for playwriting in 1997 and was the 2001 Robert Burns Fellow at Otago University.