Ngaio Marsh

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NM , a New Zealander with strong ties to Britain, is known there and worldwide for her thirty-one detective novels issued between 1934 and 1982 (and occasionally published in the USA ahead of the British edition). Less well known is her career as a theatrical producer and director in New Zealand, and sometimes in Britain, which included writing about theatre and as a playwright. Her non-fiction writings include, as well as those about theatre, travel journalism and comment on New Zealand, and an autobiography.
  • BirthName: Edith Ngaio Marsh
    It was a common practice to give New Zealand settler children Maori middle names; Ngaio, her middle name, refers to a coastal tree or shrub with small, white flowers, while Edith, her first name, was rarely used.
    Lewis, Margaret. Ngaio Marsh: A Life. Chatto & Windus, 1991.
    9

  • Self-constructed: Ngaio Marsh
Black and white photo of Ngaio Marsh, standing in a spotlight and tilted backwards. Her black dress and dark hair are dramatically lit, and her hand holding a cigarette is doubled by its shadow behind.

Milestones

23 April 1895

NM was born the only child of New Zealand-born Rose Seager Marsh and British-born Henry Edmond Marsh, in a modest, rented house in Fendalton, a suburb of Christchurch.
Lewis, Margaret. Ngaio Marsh: A Life. Chatto & Windus, 1991.
8
McDorman, Kathryne Slate. Ngaio Marsh. Twayne, 1991.
xiii, 4
It did not escape her notice that the date was that traditionally identified as Shakespeare 's birthday.

Easter 1912

The school magazine of St Margaret's College, Christchurch, New Zealand, published its first number. It was jointly edited by NM and included two essays and a comic poem of her composition. She continued to appear in later issues.
Lewis, Margaret. Ngaio Marsh: A Life. Chatto & Windus, 1991.
17

18 February 1982

NM died following a stroke, at the age of eighty-six, at her home, Marton Cottage, 37 Valley Road, Cashmere Hills, which is now preserved as a museum.
Lewis, Margaret. Ngaio Marsh: A Life. Chatto & Windus, 1991.
9
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

By late September 1982

NM 's final detective novel was posthumously published. The title, Light Thickens, is quoted from a foreboding speech in Shakespeare 's Macbeth and the plot revolves around a production of that play, which is believed by theatre people to be ill-omened.
“The Times Digital Archive 1785-2007”. Thompson Gale: The Times Digital Archive.
61350 (30 September 1982): 8

Biography

Birth, Family, and Early Years

23 April 1895

NM was born the only child of New Zealand-born Rose Seager Marsh and British-born Henry Edmond Marsh, in a modest, rented house in Fendalton, a suburb of Christchurch.
Lewis, Margaret. Ngaio Marsh: A Life. Chatto & Windus, 1991.
8
McDorman, Kathryne Slate. Ngaio Marsh. Twayne, 1991.
xiii, 4
It did not escape her notice that the date was that traditionally identified as Shakespeare 's birthday.

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