Elizabeth Knox

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-09-11

Elizabeth Fiona Knox was born February 15, 1959, in Wellington, New Zealand, and raised by atheist parents in various Wellington suburbs; as a child she enjoyed inventing stories despite facing challenges with writing due to mild dyslexia. She attended Tawa College and earned a degree in English Literature from Victoria University of Wellington between 1983 and 1987, studying under Bill Manhire's Original Composition course, where she began her first novel. Knox launched her career in 1987 with After Z-Hour, co-founded the literary journal Sport in 1988, and has taught a world-building workshop at Victoria University since 2016. Her breakthrough was The Vintner's Luck (1998), spanning fifty-five years in nineteenth-century France and exploring a peasant winemaker's relationship with a fallen angel; it was published in ten languages and adapted into a 2009 film. Other significant works include the Dreamhunter Duet young adult fantasy series (2005–2007), The Absolute Book (2019), and the memoir Night, Ma (2026). Knox was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002, promoted to Companion in 2020, received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction in 2019, an honorary Doctorate of Literature in 2020, and numerous literary prizes including the Esther Glen Award.

Universe(s)

Books

• Dreamhunter (2005) · Dreamhunter Duet Core Canon
• Dreamquake (2007) · Dreamhunter Duet Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 2 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 1 (1 honor mention)

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