View source for Heather Morris (author)

{{Short description|Australian author (born 1953)}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| birth_date       = {{Birth year and age|1953}}
| birth_place      = [[Te Awamutu]], New Zealand
| notable_works    = ''The Tattooist of Auschwitz''
| alma_mater       = [[Monash University]] (BA)
| website          = {{URL|https://heathermorrisauthor.com/}}
}}
'''Heather Morris''' (born 1953) is a New Zealand author who lives in Australia. Her 2018 debut novel was ''[[The Tattooist of Auschwitz]]''.
== Early life and family ==
Heather Morris was born in 1953 in [[Te Awamutu]] in the [[North Island]] of New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morris |first=Heather |title=How I told the story of the tattooist of Auschwitz |url=https://www.thejc.com/life-and-culture/books/how-i-told-the-story-of-the-tattooist-of-auschwitz-ieqlsyyt |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=www.thejc.com |language=en}}</ref> 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]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Home2024 |url=https://heathermorrisauthor.com/ |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=Heather Morris |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Stuff |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/110317910/kiwi-author-heather-morris-vows-to-keep-telling-holocaust-survivor-stories-despite-fierce-criticism |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=www.stuff.co.nz}}</ref>
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]].<ref name=":0" /> Their first son was born in 1976, their second son in 1980, and their daughter in 1985.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Heather |url=https://heathermorrisauthor.com/about-heather/ |access-date=2024-05-16 |website=Heather Morris |language=en-US}}</ref>
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.<ref name=":0" /> In 1995, she began working as an office manager in the social work department at the [[Monash Medical Centre|Monash Medical Center]] in Melbourne, where she remained until 2017.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2024-04-30 |title=The Tattooist Of Auschwitz author Heather Morris on why now is the perfect time for a TV adaptation |url=https://www.breakingnews.ie/lifestyle/the-tattooist-of-auschwitz-author-heather-morris-on-why-now-is-the-perfect-time-for-a-tv-adaptation-1619586.html |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=BreakingNews.ie |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=2022-01-30 |title=We All Bleed Red: A Conversation with Heather Morris |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/we-all-bleed-red-a-conversation-with-heather-morris |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=Los Angeles Review of Books}}</ref>
== Career ==
In 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]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 January 2018 |title=A love story in Auschwitz |url=https://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/free-article/a-love-story-in-auschwitz |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=Bookbrunch |language=en}}</ref>
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 [[Tattoo artist|tattooist]] in the [[Auschwitz concentration camp]], a job he had been assigned to by the camp's S.S. administrators.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2019-11-06 |title=Five minutes with Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz |url=https://hercanberra.com.au/life/people/five-minutes-heather-morris-author/ |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=HerCanberra |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-01-10 |title=The tattooist of Auschwitz - who fell in love as he inked a number on a prisoner's arm |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/auschwitz-tattooist-love-story-holocaust-nazi-ss-guards-lale-sokolov-gita-a8149131.html |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Morris-2019">{{Citation |title=An Interview with Heather Morris, author of THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BanZ6ZvKVhA |access-date=2020-05-18 |language=en}}</ref>
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.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |date=2019-09-22 |title=Heather says it's a novel. The Auschwitz Memorial says it's 'dangerous' |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-23/tattooist-of-auschwitz-author-defends-book-on-eve-of-sequel/11527252 |access-date=2024-05-07 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}</ref> In 2018, it was #1 on [[the New York Times Best Seller list]] and #1 on The New York Times international bestseller list.<ref name="Rowland-2019">{{Cite web |last=Rowland |first=Michael |date=2019-09-22 |title=Tattooist of Auschwitz author feuds with museum over accuracy on eve of sequel |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-23/tattooist-of-auschwitz-author-defends-book-on-eve-of-sequel/11527252 |access-date=2020-05-18 |publisher=[[ABC News (Australia)]] |language=en-AU}}</ref> In 2024, the book was adapted into the miniseries ''[[The Tattooist of Auschwitz (miniseries)|The Tattooist of Auschwitz]]'', with [[Harvey Keitel]] as Lale Sokolov and [[Melanie Lynskey]] as Morris.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=2024-05-01 |title=These Heather Morris Books Are Must-Reads After Binging The Tattooist of Auschwitz |url=https://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/books-similar-tattooist-of-auschwitz-heather-morris |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=NBC Insider Official Site |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1" />
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.<ref name=":5" /> 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.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=2019-10-03 |title=Sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz branded 'lurid and titillating' by survivor's stepson |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/03/cilkas-journey-heather-morris-sequel-tattooist-of-auschwitz-branded-titillating |access-date=2024-05-07 |work=[[The Guardian]] |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
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.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=hradmin |date=2021-09-30 |title=Three Sisters: How One Family Survived Auschwitz |url=https://www.thehistoryreader.com/historical-fiction/three-sisters-how-one-family-survived-auschwitz/ |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=The History Reader |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":6" />
Her latest book from 2023, ''Sisters Under the Rising Sun'' is about women in the [[Japanese war crimes|Japanese]] labor camps in [[Indonesia]] during [[World War II]].<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-26 |title=Heather Morris on her new book of sisterhood and survival |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018908527/heather-morris-on-her-new-book-of-sisterhood-and-survival |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=[[RNZ]] |language=en-nz}}</ref>
== Bibliography ==
=== The ''Tattooist of Auschwitz'' trilogy ===
* 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 ===
* 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 ==
{{reflist}}
== External links  ==
* {{Official website|https://heathermorrisauthor.com/}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Heather}}
[[Category:21st-century Australian novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century New Zealand novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century Australian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century New Zealand women writers]]
[[Category:Writers about the Holocaust]]
[[Category:Writers from Melbourne]]
[[Category:University of Canterbury alumni]]
[[Category:Monash University alumni]]
[[Category:People from Te Awamutu]]
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]