Miriam Sharland (right) with Wellington writer Elizabeth Knox, who has published 12 novels. Photo / Supplied
Miriam Sharland (right) with Wellington writer Elizabeth Knox, who has published 12 novels. Photo / Supplied
What does an Englishwoman living in Palmerston North do when Covid-19 grounds her writing plans?
In Miriam Sharland's case, she makes like a Kiwi and turns to her neighbourhood and region.
Sharland was set to visit England to do more research into her uncle for her Master of Creative Writingwhen the virus forced her to change her plans.
Bob Sharland, her father's older brother, was a rear gunner in RAF Bomber Command during World War II. He was shot down and killed with his whole crew three weeks after his wedding. Bob was just 21.
As part of her undergraduate creative writing degree at Massey University, Sharland had to write a family memoir. She started researching Bob's story, exploring a gap in the family history.
With her flight project grounded in 2020, she turned her attention to exploring the local environment. Eco-biography is a strong genre in the UK, but is in its embryonic stage in Aotearoa. Sharland set out to do a New Zealand version.
An eco-biography is people writing about their own lives in relation to the environment. Her eco-biography is a combination of nature diary and memoir exploring the Manawatū landscape. Through doing this she has learnt a lot about the landscape, but also New Zealand nature writing and NZ literature.
She is inspired by UK new nature writers Robert Macfarlane, Roger Deakin and Richard Mabey.
Sharland has received $5000 from the Earle Creativity and Development Trust towards the production costs of her eco-biography. The book is called Heart Stood Still, the English translation of Manawatū, and is part of her master's thesis, which she will finish in February.
Last year Sharland received the Laura Watts Scholarship, a grant towards attending Write Across New Zealand. The tutor of the five-day workshop was well-known writer Elizabeth Knox. Sharland loved Knox's novel The Vintner's Luck, so was excited to have the chance to meet her.
The workshop was held in December at Marahau near Abel Tasman National Park, and the other participants included Rachael King, Catherine Robertson, Chris Stuart, Kerry Sunderland, and Claire Mabey.
Everyone was working on projects they had submitted beforehand and had one-on-one time with Knox to receive feedback. They also did writing workshops to improve various elements of their craft. Sharland relished five days with no mobile phone coverage in a beautiful place and the opportunity to focus on her writing.
She says receiving the Earle grant and the scholarship have proved she is on the right track and should keep going. "I read a section [of Heart Stood Still] out at the workshop and people really liked it. Just to get that external validation was really good."
She was particularly heartened by Robertson's comment that while Sharland might think because the other workshop participants had had a lot of books published, they were better than her. Robertson said they are just further along on the journey.
The scholarship was offered to her by Watts. They had met before, but the offer came out of the blue.
Bob Sharland, Miriam's uncle, aged 19. Photo / Supplied
After she has finished her master's degree, Sharland plans to go back to the flight project. In 2016, she visited Tuttlingen, the German town near which the bomber came down, and attended the unveiling of a memorial to the crew. She has bits of the plane.
The irony of being grounded and unable to progress her flight project is not lost on Sharland. By focusing local she discovered stories and people she would not have if she had flown away. She learned and met significant trees, birds and natural features.
An example is Karaka Grove on the site of a battle fought against invaders by Rangitāne in 1820, now part of the science park opposite Massey. Sharland, who works in Massey's communications team, has gone past the stand of trees countless times but didn't know its significance.
Another natural feature that has caught her environmentally focused eye is the significance of the godwits to our region. She has included them in her writing as a metaphor, "how they tell us things about our lives and how to live".
From Surrey, Sharland has lived in Manawatū for 19 years. She had never learned much about her new home until the first Covid lockdown, a deficit she puts down to rushing around living a normal life. When the pace of life slowed dramatically in the autumn of 2020, she discovered layers of history and felt she had started to connect to Manawatū.
"Noticing all things I'd never seen before because I was too busy, it was like a silver lining. It was a connection and as a result of that I definitely feel more connected."
Sharland did an English degree in England but didn't do creative writing. She loved her first undergraduate creative writing paper at Massey, particularly learning about her uncle's short life. "It was like an entry into his world and I found that really fascinating."
The eco-biography project over the past few years has been a great way to process her thoughts and feelings about being unable to go home, feeling unsettled and worried about friends and family in England.
