Heather Morris (born 1953) is a New Zealand author who lives in Australia. Her 2018 debut novel was The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
Heather Morris | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1953 (age 70–71) Te Awamutu, New Zealand |
| Alma mater | Monash University (BA) |
| Notable works | The Tattooist of Auschwitz |
| Website | |
| heathermorrisauthor | |
Early life and family
editHeather Morris was born in 1953 in Te Awamutu in the North Island of New Zealand.[1] She later moved with her family to the town of Pirongia, and graduated from Te Awamutu High School. In interviews, she stated that as a child she knew nothing about the Holocaust.[2][3]
In 1971, she moved to Melbourne; there she met and married Steve Morris in 1973. In 1975, she returned to New Zealand with her husband and settled in Christchurch.[2] Their first son was born in 1976, their second son in 1980, and their daughter in 1985.[4]
She began studying at the University of Canterbury in 1986 but returned to Melbourne in 1987 and graduated from Monash University with a BA in Political Science and Sociology in 1991.[2] In 1995, she began working as an office manager in the social work department at the Monash Medical Center in Melbourne, where she remained until 2017.[5][6]
Career
editIn 1996, Morris enrolled in a professional writing course at the Australian College of Journalism. She has participated in screenwriting lectures, seminars and creative workshops both in Australia and the US. Her first script was reviewed by the Oscar-winning author and screenwriter Pamela Wallace.[7]
In 2003, she met and befriended Lale Sokolov, two months after the death of his wife, Gita. He was 87 years old at the time. For the next three years, until his death in 2006, Lale told her details about his life during the Holocaust and his work as a tattooist in the Auschwitz concentration camp, a job he had been assigned to by the camp's S.S. administrators.[8][9] Based on his stories, Morris later wrote The Tattooist of Auschwitz, initially as a screenplay. Although the screenplay was optioned by an Australian film company, the company did not exercise its right and the option lapsed after six years. She then entered her work in international competitions where she won many honours including the International Independent Film Awards in 2016.[10]
Eventually, Morris was persuaded by her sister-In-law to rewrite the screenplay as a novel, which she titled The Tattooist of Auschwitz. The book, released in 2018, became a bestseller. It was published in over 50 countries around the world and sold tens of millions of copies.[11] In 2018, it was #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list and #1 on The New York Times international bestseller list.[12] In 2024, the book was adapted into the miniseries The Tattooist of Auschwitz, with Harvey Keitel as Lale Sokolov and Melanie Lynskey as Morris.[13][5]
Her second book, the sequel to The Tattooist from Auschwitz, Cilka's Journey, was released in 2020 and tells the story of Cilka Kovacova, who was 16 when she arrived in Auschwitz and became the camp commandant's mistress.[13] After her release from the camp she was arrested and sent to the Gulag in Russia where she met her husband Ivan and fled to Canada. As part of the research work for the book, Morris visited Slovakia four times and researched the life of Kovacova.[11][8] She also visited Yad Vashem to further research the Holocaust. Kovacova's stepson, George Kovach from California, sued Morris upon the publication of the book, because according to him the story is "hurtful" and blurring the boundaries of fact and fiction.[14]
The third book in the trilogy Three Sisters, about three sisters who together survive Auschwitz, arrive in Slovakia and immigrate to Israel, was released in 2021.[13][15][6]
Her latest book from 2023, Sisters Under the Rising Sun is about women in the Japanese labor camps in Indonesia during World War II.[13][16]
Bibliography
editThe Tattooist of Auschwitz trilogy
edit- 2017 - The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Bonnier Publishing Fiction
- 2019 - Cilka's Journey, St. Martin's Publishing Group
- 2021 - Three Sisters, Center Point Large Print
Other novels
edit- 2020 - Stories of Hope, Bonnier Books UK
- 2022 - Listening Well St. Martin's Publishing Group
- 2023 - Sisters Under the Rising Sun, St. Martin's Publishing Group
References
edit- ^ Morris, Heather. "How I told the story of the tattooist of Auschwitz". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ a b c "Home2024". Heather Morris. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ "Stuff". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ "About Heather". Heather Morris. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
- ^ a b "The Tattooist Of Auschwitz author Heather Morris on why now is the perfect time for a TV adaptation". BreakingNews.ie. 30 April 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ a b "We All Bleed Red: A Conversation with Heather Morris". Los Angeles Review of Books. 30 January 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ "A love story in Auschwitz". Bookbrunch. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ a b "Five minutes with Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz". HerCanberra. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ "The tattooist of Auschwitz - who fell in love as he inked a number on a prisoner's arm". The Independent. 10 January 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ An Interview with Heather Morris, author of THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ, retrieved 18 May 2020
- ^ a b "Heather says it's a novel. The Auschwitz Memorial says it's 'dangerous'". ABC News. 22 September 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ Rowland, Michael (22 September 2019). "Tattooist of Auschwitz author feuds with museum over accuracy on eve of sequel". ABC News (Australia). Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d "These Heather Morris Books Are Must-Reads After Binging The Tattooist of Auschwitz". NBC Insider Official Site. 1 May 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ Flood, Alison (3 October 2019). "Sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz branded 'lurid and titillating' by survivor's stepson". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ hradmin (30 September 2021). "Three Sisters: How One Family Survived Auschwitz". The History Reader. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ "Heather Morris on her new book of sisterhood and survival". RNZ. 26 September 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2024.