Craig Harrison (writer)

Craig Harrison (born 1942 in Leeds, Yorkshire) is a British-New Zealand author, playwright,[1] scriptwriter, and retired university lecturer, probably best known for his novel The Quiet Earth, which was published in 1982. Harrison's output has ranged widely, from science fiction to junior fiction, to comedies parodying academia. All of his books were published first in his adopted home of New Zealand.

Craig Harrison
Born1942 (age 78–79)
Leeds, United Kingdom
OccupationAuthor, playwright, lecturer

Career

Harrison was born in Leeds in 1942, and migrated to New Zealand in 1966, where he lectured at Massey University in Palmerston North until his retirement. His end-of-the-world tale The Quiet Earth was shortlisted for New Zealand Book of the Year in 1982. It also inspired the acclaimed 1985 film of the same name, directed by Geoff Murphy, which won some rave reviews in the United States. Harrison also wrote 1991's Grievous Bodily, a comical novel in which two inept university lecturers stumble upon a briefcase containing large quantities of stolen cash. Many chases and some exploding food items follow.

Harrison's television work includes writing the 1978 culture-clash comedy Joe and Koro. The show's basic concept – the friendship between an English-born schoolteacher and a Māori man – has a convoluted history, the main characters having appeared in Harrison's award-winning radio play Ground Level, two different iterations of a stageplay, and a novel published in the early 1980s.

Bibliography

Novels
  • How To Be A Pom (1975)
  • Broken October: New Zealand, 1985 (1976 A.H. and A.W. Reed Ltd) – Novelisation of the play 'Tomorrow Will Be A Lovely Day' ISBN 0589009664
  • The Quiet Earth (1981 - Coronet Books) ISBN 0340265078
  • Ground Level (1981) – Novelization of earlier play 'Ground Level'
  • Days of Starlight (1988), ISBN 0340422033
  • Grievous Bodily (1991)
  • The Dumpster Saga (2007)

Plays
  • Tomorrow Will Be a Lovely Day (1974)
  • Ground Level (1981)
  • The Whites of Their Eyes (1975)
  • Perfect Strangers (1976)
  • Hearts of Gold (1983)
  • White Lies (1994)

References
  1. Chambers, Colin (14 May 2006). Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre. A&C Black. pp. 544–545. ISBN 978-1-84714-001-2.


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