Finuala Dowling

Finuala Dowling (born June 1962) is a South African poet and writer.^[1][2]

Finuala Dowling
Born	June 1962 Cape Town, South Africa
Occupation	Poet, Writer, Lecturer, Editor
Nationality	South African

Biography

The seventh of eight children born to radio broadcasters Eve van der Byl and Paddy Dowling, Finuala Dowling obtained an MA in English from the University of Cape Town (UCT), and a D.Litt. from the University of South Africa (UNISA), where she lectured in English for eight years.^[1][3]

Her first poetry anthology, I Flying, was published in 2002 and won the Ingrid Jonker Prize. She has also won the Sanlam Award for Poetry and the Olive Schreiner Prize. She won the 2012 M-Net Literary Award (English category) for Homemaking for the Down-at-Heart.^[4]

With Tessa and Cara Dowling she has set up an entertainment company, Dowling Sisters Productions.

Family

Dowling lives in Kalk Bay, Cape Town with her daughter Beatrice, who also writes poetry.^[5]

Publications

Poetry

• I Flying, Carapace (2002)^[6]
• Doo-Wop Girls of the Universe, Penguin (2006)^[7]
• Notes from the Dementia Ward, Kwela Books/Snailpress (2008)^[8]
• Pretend You Don't Know Me: New and Selected Poems, Bloodaxe Books (2018)^[9]

Novels

• What Poets Need, Penguin (2005)^[10]
• Flyleaf, Penguin (2007)^[11]
• Homemaking for the Down-at-Heart, Kwela Books (2011)^[12]
• The Fetch, Kwela Books (2015)^[13]
• Okay, Okay, Okay, Kwela Books (2019)^[14]
• The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers (2022)^[15] (Featuring the "female fakir" Koringa)^[16]

Appearances in anthologies

• Portraits of African Writers, ed. George Hallett, Wits University Press (2006)
• Lovely Beyond Any Singing: Landscape in South African Literature, Helen Moffett, Double Storey (2006)

Awards

Source:^[5]

• Ingrid Jonker Prize for I Flying (2004)
• Sanlam Award for Poetry for Doo-Wop Girls of the Universe (2006)^{[citation needed]}
• Olive Schreiner Prize for Notes from the Dementia Ward (2010)^[17]
• M-Net Literary Award (English category) for Homemaking for the Down-at-Heart (2012)
• Herman Charles Bosman Award for The Fetch

References

1. "NB Publishers | Authors". www.nb.co.za. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
2. Rumens, Carol (13 May 2019). "Poem of the week: Catch of the Day by Finuala Dowling". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
3. "Finuala Dowling". scholar.google.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
4. Carolyn (19 October 2012). "The 2012 M-Net Literary Awards Winners". Books LIVE. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
5. "This month, Kwela celebrates poet and novelist Finuala Dowling". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
6. Dowling, Finuala (2002). I Flying. Carapace Poets. ISBN 978-1-874923-66-4.
7. Dowling, Finuala (2006). Doo-wop Girls of the Universe. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-302504-7.
8. Dowling, Finuala (2008). Notes from the Dementia Ward. Kwela Books in collaboration with Snailpress. ISBN 978-0-7957-0274-7.
9. "Finuala Dowling". Karina Magdalena. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
10. Dowling, Finuala (2005). What Poets Need. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-302468-2.
11. "Flyleaf". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
12. Dowling, Finuala (2019). Homemaking for the Down-at-heart. Kwela Books. ISBN 978-0-7957-0932-6.
13. Dowling, Finuala (2015). The Fetch. Kwela Books. ISBN 978-0-7957-0717-9.
14. Dowling, Finuala (2019). Okay, Okay, Okay. Kwela Books. ISBN 978-0-7957-0948-7.
15. Dowling, Finuala (2022). The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers. Kwela Books. ISBN 9780795709630.
16. Wright, Laurence (11 May 2023). "Koringa and the Professor: beating some 'fictive' bounds in Finuala Dowling's The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers". ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews: 1–9. doi:10.1080/0895769X.2023.2210168.
17. "Finuala Dowling" Archived 7 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine, nb.

External links

• Official website