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Alma De Groen Alma De Groen i(A7652 works by) (birth name: Alma Margaret Mathers) (a.k.a. Alma Margaret De Groen)
Born: Established: 1941 Foxton, Manawatu, North Island,
c
New Zealand,
c
Pacific Region,
;
Gender: Female
Arrived in Australia: 1964
Heritage: New Zealander
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BiographyHistory

Alma De Groen, daughter of Archibald Mathers and Eileen Vertongen, was born in New Zealand and educated at Mangakino District High School. She moved to Australia in 1964 and married in 1965. (She was later divorced.) Influenced by the New Theatre movement, De Groen began writing plays in 1968. She then travelled to England, France and Canada during the late 1960s and early 1970s, returning to Australia in December 1972. While in Canada, her first performed work, The Joss Adams Show, won a National Playwriting Competition (having been performed in both Ontario and Toronto) and was subsequently performed in England and Australia.

De Groen has written numerous plays, most with a strong focus on women and artists, with some covering social issues such as marital relationships and battered-baby syndrome. Her plays are regularly performed in Australia and studied in high schools and universities. She has also written for radio and television.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

1998 winner Patrick White Award $20 000 prize money awarded.
1994 Literature Board Fellowship Category A Fellowship One year fellowship

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Wicked Sisters 2002 Strawberry Hills : Currency Press , 2003 Z1027137 2002 single work drama

'Alec Hobbes, famed genius, social Darwinist and artificial intelligence researcher is dead. But his computer algorithm lives on, still working away in his study, and his widow Meridee tiptoes around the machine much like she did around her husband for most of their marriage. Her friends Judith and Lydia turn up to shake their friend out of her isolation and self-neglect. What promises to be a weekend of laughter and wine turns comically savage when Hester arrives and truths about the past start to tear at the fabric of friendship.'

Source: Griffin Theatre Company (2020 revival).

2003 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting
y separately published work icon The Woman in the Window 1998 Redfern : Currency Press , 1999 Z299084 1998 single work drama (taught in 1 units)
1999 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting
y separately published work icon The Girl Who Saw Everything 1991 Paddington : Currency Press , 1993 Z263116 1991 single work drama (taught in 6 units)
1993 winner AWGIE Awards Stage Award Original
Last amended 29 Oct 2015 10:55:59
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