In Search of a Story

<p><strong style=color: rgba(138 74 121 1)>The story waits in the shadows. The writer has a deadline and the story wants to be told but the story has patience. It is in no hurry.</strong></p><p><strong style=color: rgba(138 74 121 1)>The writer gets up from the computer and goes for a walk hoping the story will emerge and show itself or at least give some hint of its being-a scent a slight stirring a restless rustling or a small anticipatory shiver.</strong></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(138 74 121 1)>Award winning writer Daphne de Jong opens up the files to deliver this final collection of short stories. In this collection Daphne explores life death love and relationships. Each story shows a twist of the muse that hooks the reader and stays with them long after the story finishes.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(138 74 121 1)>Daphne de Jong was born in Dargaville. Her first published story was written at sixteen and she went on to write over eighty romance novels and achieve national and international success in this genre.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(138 74 121 1)>Literary Prizes include the </span><em style=color: rgba(138 74 121 1)>Bank of New Zealand Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award</em><span style=color: rgba(138 74 121 1)> (1981) and the </span><em style=color: rgba(138 74 121 1)>Lilian Ida Smith (PEN NZ) Award </em><span style=color: rgba(138 74 121 1)>for short non-fiction (1986).</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(138 74 121 1)>Her poems and short stories have been published in magazines and broadcast both in New Zealand and overseas. Stories have been included in anthologies by Oxford University Press New Women's Press in collaborative collections with other prizewinning authors and a previous solo collection </span><em style=color: rgba(138 74 121 1)>Crossing the Bar</em><span style=color: rgba(138 74 121 1)>.</span></p>