Janet Frame was born in Dunedin, NZ in 1924 she died in January 2004. Janet was the author of eleven novels, five collections of stories, two volumes of poetry, a children's book and a three-volumed autobiography now collected as AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE. She won numerous awards and was made a CBE in 1983 for services to literature, awarded an honoroary doctorate of literature from the University of Otago in 1978 and from The University of Waikato in 1992. She received New Zealand's highest civil honour in 1990 when she was made a Member of the Order of New Zealand. In 2003 she was among the inaugural recipients of a Prime Minister's Award for literary achievement and was named an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icon Artist.