Beverley Stevens
Beverley Stevens is a Kiwi writer of creative nonfiction based in Wellington who is currently working on a memoir in essays. Her work has been published in New Zealand literary journals, Landfall and Headland; and in the US in Dorothy Parker's Ashes, Short Reads, and the Brevity Blog, among others. Her website is designit.co.nz
Genre:
Skills:
- Autobiography / Memoir
- Non-Fiction
Branch:
Wellington
Location:
New Zealand
Publications:
Headland
Not drowning but waving
A short creative nonfiction essay with ruminations on romance, triggered by seeing the Roy Lichenstein pop art painting 'Drowning Girl', published in Headland issue 16, November 2021.
Landfall
Aide-memoire
A short creative nonfiction essay about a phone call with my mother as her memory declined, published in Landfall 243, Autumn 2022. You can read it online at my website.
Longridge Review
A proper Sunday lunch
A memoir essay recalling formal Sunday lunches at my grandparents, published in the Longridge Review in the US Spring 2022 issue.
Dorothy Parker's Ashes
Been and gone
Been and gone (or just Gone) published September 2022 in response to a call for submissions for essays on the theme of 'mother'.
Katherine Mansfield Society
A dreadful girl
A memoir/essay about my grandmother's family and the Beauchamp family as near neighbours in Thorndon, Wellington; published in the 20-page September 2023 newsletter distributed to members of the Katherine Mansfield Society.
Brevity Blog
Not telling it all
A post in which I explore how much to reveal and publish about family dramas and difficult relationships in memoir and personal essays. Published in March 2024.
The Brevity Blog
A River Runs Through My Memoir-In-Essays
A craft essay that tracks some of my reading and learning about writing a memoir-in-essays and, in particular, references Dinty Moore’s concept of the magnetic river that needs to run through a story. Published on The Brevity Blog on 29 January 2025.
Dorothy Parker's Ashes
On The Same Wavelength
A memoir essay on the theme of work, about my time at the BBC World Service in the 1980s, published in Dorothy Parker's Ashes in April 2025.
Sad Girl Diaries
To The Dance
This piece recounts how it took me all afternoon to get ready for the fourth form social. It was published in October 2025.
Short Reads
Out the Front Door
A short personal essay about farewelling my mother, published in Short Reads in November 2025.
Wild Willow Magazine
Waiting For Baby
A personal essay published in Wild Willow Magazine's issue on mums (issue six, May 2026) which recounts my hopes and fears as I awaited the birth of my first grandchild.
Loving Arrangements
Not Drowning But Waving
This personal essay, previously published in Headland, is included in an anthology by Rutgers University Press published in June 2026 The collection offers a variety of perspectives and experiences with nontraditional relationships and forms of cohabitation.