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Cover image courtesy of the author.
Maria Lewis Maria Lewis i(9162872 works by)
Born: Established: 1988
c
New Zealand,
c
Pacific Region,
;
Gender: Female
Heritage: Maori
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BiographyHistory

Sydney-based author and radio presenter.

Born in Arrowtown, New Zealand, Maria Lewis later moved to the Gold Coast with her mother and grandparents. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Bond University, but began her journalism career as a sixteen-year-old cadet at the Gold Coast Bulletin, covering the crime and police beat. She later worked for the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, as well as the Daily Mail Australia, this time as an entertainment and show-business reporter. She has also worked as a freelance writer for a wide range of publications, as well as a television panellist and podcaster, with a particular focus on film and television (especially queer representation and feminism in film).

Lewis's debut novel, Who's Afraid, was published in July 2016: the first sequel (of a planned series of five) was released in January 2017. Her standalone mermaid/merman horror novel, It Came from the Deep, was published in late 2017. In June 2018, it was announced that she had signed for two further books with Piatkus, the first of which, The Witch Who Courted Death, is due for release at Hallowe'en 2018.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2019 finalist Australian Shadows Award Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism for 'Horror Movies that Mean Something and Childhood Trauma Manifested', published on flicks.com.au
2017 shortlisted Australian Shadows Award Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism

For 'It Follows is the Millennial STD Parable of Our Time', published on the SBS website.

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon The Wailing Woman Sydney : Hachette Australia , 2019 18274257 2019 single work novel fantasy

'Good girls don't talk back. Good girls don't cry. Good girls don't scream.

'Sadie Burke has been forced to be a good girl her entire life. As a banshee, she's the bottom of the ladder when it comes to the supernatural hierarchy. Weak. Condemned. Powerless. Silent. That's what she and her six sisters have been told their entire lives, since their species was first banished from Ireland.

'Yet when a figure from her childhood unexpectedly arrives on the scene, Sadie finds it harder than ever to toe the line.

'Texas Contos is the son of their greatest oppressor. He's also someone she's inexplicably drawn to, and as they grow closer, Sadie begins to question what banshees have been told for centuries about their gifts.

'But the truth comes at a cost. With Sadie and Tex forced to run for their lives, their journey leads them to new friends, old enemies, and finally to her true voice - one that could shatter the supernatural world forever.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2019 shortlisted Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction Fantasy Division Novel
y separately published work icon The Witch Who Courted Death Sydney : Hachette Australia , 2018 14508401 2018 single work novel fantasy

"Considering her status as the world’s most powerful medium, Corvossier ‘Casper’ von Klitzing had a pretty normal life. Her unrivalled ability to speak with and control the dead had made her a living, and made her a target.

"After a horrific incident in her home city of Berlin, Casper’s life is forever changed. The sole survivor, she is consumed with vengeance towards an enemy she doesn’t understand.

"Diving headfirst into the supernaturally secretive world of spells, charms and covens, it’s not long before Casper is crossing much more than just the line between the living and the dead..."

Source: Publisher's blurb. 

2018 joint winner Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction Fantasy Division Novel
y separately published work icon Who's Afraid Too? Sydney : Hachette Australia , 2017 10699044 2017 single work novel fantasy

'Tommi Grayson: all bark, all bite . . . and now she's BACK!

'After the sh-t show that was her family reunion, Tommi needed to get gone. She's spent the last few weeks trying to understand her heritage - the one that comes with a side order of fur as well as her Maori history and how she can connect to it.

'But she can only escape for so long - when an unspeakable evil, thought long destroyed, returns, Tommi needs every bit of the skills she's learned. With the help of allies both old and new, she's going to take the fight to the enemy . . .'

Source:* Publisher's blurb.

2017 shortlisted Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction Horror Division Novel
Last amended 25 May 2020 14:46:25
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