The Christchurch Press suggested that ' Hibiscus Coast continues its predecessor's strengths of fine characterization and evocative writing, and goes further by adding impressive qualities, such as dynamic plot and knife-edge storytelling.' In Iowa Morris wrote many of the stories for her 2008 collection Forbidden Cities, as well as much of her second novel, Hibiscus Coast (Penguin, 2005).Ī literary thriller set in contemporary Auckland and Shanghai, Hibiscus Coast tells the story of a bold scheme to steal Goldie paintings from the Auckland Museum and replace them with expert forgeries. Morris then returned to the US as part of the MFA programme at the University of Iowa, where she was the first Glenn Schaeffer New Zealand Fellow, and then a Teaching-Writing fellow. The novel won the NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award at the 2003 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. a warm, unsentimental portrait of a family in all its confusion and conflicting stories’ and the New Zealand Herald calling it a 'stunning debut novel.a masterful work’. The novel was published in 2002 and featured in a number of 'Best of' book lists, with The Listener declaring it it the 'local debut of the year. While at the Institute, she wrote the novel Queen of Beauty, which won the 2001 Adam Foundation Prize for Creative Writing. She returned to New Zealand in 2001 to complete an MA in Creative Writing at the Institute of International Letters. In the 80s and 90s, Morris worked in London and New York, first at BBC Radio 3 and then at various record companies, as well as at The New York Times. She went on to study at the University of York in England, where she completed a D.Phil in 1990. Morris graduated from the University of Auckland in 1985 with a BA in English and History. She was born in Auckland and is of English and Ngati Wai descent.

Morris, Paula (1965 - ) is an award winning novelist, short story writer, and essayist.

The Eternal City by Paula Morris