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Ken Catran (born 16 May 1944) is a children's novelist and television screenwriter from New Zealand.
Contents
Catran is the author of many teen novels, including Taken at the Flood, Voyage with Jason, Doomfire on Venus, Space Wolf, Jacko Moran: Sniper, Talking to Blue and its sequels Blue Murder and Blue Blood. He is perhaps best known for his Deepwater trilogy series and his contribution to the television drama Shortland Street. However, Catran became frustrated with a lack of recognition within the industry (in particular, he penned the famous line, "You're not in Guatemala now, Dr. Ropata," but has never received payment for the numerous times it has been used in publicity), and quit television altogether. Although he did not start writing until his thirties, he has become a prolific and varied writer within the New Zealand literary community.
Ken's television credits include soap operas (Radio Waves, Close to Home) as well as stand-out episodes in the TV drama Mortimer's Patch including two episodes that were the most watched TV programme in New Zealand in their respective weeks: a feat that is unlikely to be repeated.
He also penned Under the Mountain, an 8-episode treatment of the Maurice Gee novel, and in 1981/1982 researched and wrote the critically well-received Hanlon - a biographical law drama. The opening episode treating sympathetically the Minnie Dean case received outstanding reviews.
He resides in Waimate, a township in South Canterbury, New Zealand.
Awards
In 1986, Catran won the Drama Script category in the Listener Television Awards (also called the GOFTA Awards) for the first episode of Hanlon, In Defence of Minnie Dean.
In 2004, Catran won the Esther Glen Award, presented by LIANZA, for his book, Jacko Moran, Sniper. Another five of his books have been short-listed for the award from 1997 to 2006, and Smiling Jack was a finalist for the 2011 LIANZA Young Adult Fiction Award.
In 2001, Catran's book, Voyage with Jason, won the Children's Book of the Year award, and the Young Adult Fiction category, at the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards. Later, his book, Smiling Jack, won the Children's Choice Young Adult Fiction category at the 2011 awards. An additional three of his books have been shortlisted at the various incarnations of these awards — Deepwater Black and Dream-bite for Senior Fiction, and Something Weird about Mr Foster for Junior Fiction.
In 2007, after writing more than 30 novels, he won the Margaret Mahy Medal, awarded by the Storylines Children's Literature Charitable Trust to a person who has made a significant contribution to children's literature, publishing, or literacy. At least one of his books have been on the Storylines Notable Books List in the Young Adult Fiction category from when the list was established in 2000 to 2008, and again in 2011. In 2003 one of his books was included in the Junior Fiction category of the list, Something Weird About Mr Foster.
He was the University of Otago College of Education Children's Writer in Residence in 1996, and the University of Waikato Writer in Residence in 2007.
In 2005 he was presented the Sir Julius Vogel Award for services to science fiction and fantasy, and was nominated for the Sir Julius Vogel Best Novel for Protus Rising.
Personal life
Not much is publicly known about Catran's personal life. Through various interviews, however, he has revealed that he chose writing over other interests because it 'came naturally to me'. He relaxes by going for walks, and, as may be expected for a writer, reads regularly.
He also frequently visits schools and gives advice to young writers on creating novels and short stories