Rebecca Macfie
Rebecca Macfie | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1960 or 1961 (age 63–64) |
| Occupation | Journalist, author |
| Nationality | New Zealander |
| Alma mater | University of Otago, University of Canterbury |
| Notable works |
|
| Notable awards | NZSA E.H. McCormick Best First Book Award for Non-Fiction, Bert Roth Award for Excellence in Labour History |
| Website | |
| Official Twitter | |
Rebecca Macfie is a New Zealand author and journalist.
Early life and family
[edit]Rebecca Macfie is the fifth of six children born to Bob and Helen Macfie and raised on the family farm in South Otago, which had been awarded to Bob after his A-grade discharge from military service at the conclusion of World War II.[1]
Macfie studied history at the University of Otago and earned a Bachelor of Arts and Postgraduate Diploma in Arts. Later she graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism.[2]
Since the late 1980s, she has lived in Christchurch, New Zealand, with her husband, engineer Neil Smart.[3] They share two adult children.[4]
Career
[edit]Macfie has worked as a journalist since 1988. In 2007 Macfie joined the New Zealand Listener as a writer for the South Island. She has also been published with The Star, The Press, National Business Review, Independent Business Weekly, North & South, Unlimited, and the New Zealand Herald.[4][5]
In 2013 she published Tragedy at Pike River Mine: How and Why 29 Men Died,[6] a non-fiction work on the Pike River Mine disaster that claimed 29 lives.[7] In 2022, her biography of trade unionist Helen Kelly was published by Awa Press and long-listed for the New Zealand Book Awards general non-fiction award.[8][9]
In 2024 she was named the JD Stout Fellow by the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies at Victoria University of Wellington.[10]
Awards
[edit]For her work with the New Zealand Listener, Macfie won the Magazine Feature Writer Business and Politics Award at the 2014 Canon Media Awards[11] and the Magazine Feature Writer Business & Science Award at the 2013 Canon Media Awards.[12] At the 2016 Canon Media Awards, Macfie won the 'Feature writing – politics' and 'Feature writing – health' categories, as well as the Wolfson Fellowship.[13] In 2018, Macfie won the Voyager Media Award for 'Feature writing – business or personal finance' for two articles, on the environmental and economic risks of climate change, and the development of animal free protein.
In 2012 she won the Bruce Jesson Senior Journalism Grant to develop a book on the Pike River Mine disaster (later published as Tragedy at Pike River Mine).[14] The book then won the 2014 NZSA E.H. McCormick Best First Book Award for Non-Fiction at the New Zealand Post Book Awards,[15] the 2014 Bert Roth Award for Excellence in Labour History,[16] and the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy media award.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ Macfie, Rebecca (15 March 2025). "A state of discomfort". New Zealand Listener. Vol. 295, no. 4391. pp. 22–27. ISSN 2381-9553. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
- ^ a b "Rebecca Macfie". HASANZ. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
- ^ "Rebecca Macfie". Verb Wellington. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ^ a b "Rebecca Macfie". Noted. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
- ^ "Rebecca Macfie". BWB Bridget Williams Books. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
- ^ Macfie, Rebecca (2013). Tragedy at Pike River Mine: How and Why 29 Men Died. Awa Press. ISBN 9781877551901.
- ^ "'New material' in Pike disaster book". Australia's Mining Monthly. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
- ^ Macfie, Rebecca (2022). Helen Kelly: Her Life. Chicago: Awa Press. ISBN 978-1-927249-74-1.
- ^ "2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards - longlist announced". New Zealand Book Awards Trust. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ^ Wellington, Victoria University of (28 January 2025). "Stout Research Centre appoints 2024 JD Stout Fellow and awards Lydia Wevers Scholarship in New Zealand Studies". Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ^ "2014 winners". Canon Media Awards. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
- ^ "2013 winners". Canon Media Awards. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
- ^ "Canon Media Awards 2016: winners, losers, drunks, takeovers, new players and golden gods". 23 May 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
- ^ "Senior Journalism Grant Winners". The Bruce Jesson Foundation. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
- ^ "Past Winners by Author". New Zealand Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
- ^ "2014 Bert Roth Award". Labour History Project. Retrieved 5 December 2017.