Scroll down for news articles, reviews of Maura’s work and guest blog posts.
News Articles
21 June 2023
Canberra Writer Maura’s on a Creative Roll
I always enjoy catching up with arts media stalwart, Helen Musa, who recently stopped by to chat about my latest work.
31 March 2023
Canberra Author Tackles Tough Issues in ‘Fragments’
Such a pleasure to chat with Canberra Weekly‘s Jessica Cordwell about Fragments, mental health and the intricate connection between the arts and wellbeing.
26 November 2022
Mum Wins Big at Canberra Short Film Festival
Lovely to be featured in the Canberra Times with my daughter, Erin about the Fragments web series. Blessed to collaborate with such a talented and committed team for this adaptation and so proud of Fragments in all its forms. Stay tuned for launch details.
23 October 2019
Canberra Weekly: My Favourite Things (Page 154)
An award winning author and playwright who hails from New York, Maura Pierlot has called Canberra home for nearly 30 years.
16 October 2019
CityNews: Playwright brings her ‘Fragments’ together
“My view is that philosophy should be a required course for primary school students,” says philosopher, ethicist, medical journalist, editor, former real estate agent, developer mum and nowadays playwright, Maura Pierlot.
On the other hand, she also says of her new life as a writer: “I’m intuitive in my writing. I follow an imperative. I don’t plan, I don’t research and I’m not mystical – I’m very much grounded.”
21 September 2019
Living Arts Canberra: Maura Pierlot – Fragments
Based on a series of conversations with 13 to 18-year-olds in Canberra and beyond, the eight monologues presented in Fragments are imagined stories that touch upon common issues facing teens today.
12 September 2016
HotHouse Theatre: Eclectic Mix Gives Judges Tough Task
Twelve shortlisted monologues – intriguing, disturbing, amusing but ultimately entertaining – were staged at the SOLO Monologue Competition Performance last Thursday night at the Butter Factory Theatre.
The three entries that shone for the judges and won the $500 prizemoney, generously donated by La Trobe University Albury Wodonga campus in each category, were:
High School – Jesslyn Santosa, Grace and the Melancholy; Unpublished – Mark Dessaix, No Title and Published – Maura Pierlot, Tapping Out.
Reviews
4 October 2021
CBCA Reading Time – Fragments (Book) Reviews
As a regular reviewer for CBCA’s online magazine, Reading Time, I know how much time and thought goes into reading and reviewing new titles. So I’m especially grateful to Sandra Bennett and Libby Boas for their thoughtful analysis of Fragments and to the CBCA Reading Time team for featuring the work not once, but twice. Thrilled to hear how much Fragments is resonating with readers.
21 November 2019
Rosalind Moran: Saw Maura Pierlot’s Fragments; Tried Not to Fall to Pieces
“Fragments is not an easy play to watch. It’s a series of monologues on mental health and social issues faced by young people, covering anxiety, depression, autism, transphobia, social media pressure, stressful home lives, popularity at school, and the feeling of being unprepared for the real world. Eight teens speak to the audience about who they are behind their masks. It’s fiction, but it feels real.”
24 October 2019
Frank McKone: Fragments by Maura Pierlot
“Fragments has a didactic purpose, especially appropriate at this time of year as young people (in the southern hemisphere) complete their Year 12 assessment and receive their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) results. The author writes: “Please help create awareness about mental health issues, while reaching out to those who may be struggling, now and in the weeks ahead.”
24 October 2019
Erin Stewart: ArtsHub – Fragments, The Street Theatre (ACT)
“Fragments, written by award-winning Canberra-based author and playwright Maura Pierlot and directed by Shelly Higgs, gives audiences a multi-sensory, embodied experience of what it’s like to be a teenager in distress. The cast delivers the angst-driven script movingly, and are well-supported by an innovative use of set, sound, and lighting. It’s an effective exploration of not quite being able to communicate effectively, and what happens when those around you can’t quite see your reality under fake smiles and photoshopped selfies.”
16 October 2019
Rock City Jester: The Kids Are OK?
It’s premiere deliberately coincides with mental health awareness week, but it is perhaps misleading to describe Maura Pierlot’s play Fragments as a work about mental health. Though that is how it was conceived over two years ago when she first applied for funding to write it.
“It felt almost like channelling when I wrote the application. It felt that automatic, almost inevitable,” she says. “I proposed a series of monologues on mental health issues for young people, looking at how they’re coping or not with the stresses in their lives.”
But for Pierlot, labels are problematic.
12 October 2019
Amy Martin: The Canberra Times – Fragments of Mental Health in Spotlight
“When Zane Menegazzo walked out of his audition for Fragments, playwright Maura Pierlot knew she had found her Mason.
Despite being asked to prepare two of the play’s monologues for the audition, Menegazzo only prepared for Mason because he didn’t just like the role, he felt like it was written about him.”
12 March 2019
Sarah Wallace: The Trouble In Tune Town
“Music should be a joy for kids, but the pressure of music practice and performance can make some children lose the pleasure that music brings.
In this delightful picture book, Meg is Tune Town’s best performer. She’s practising for the big concert, but nothing is going right. The notes sound wrong, her fingers are tense, and the tune comes out ‘sluggish and sticky’.”
Guest Blog Posts and Author Interviews
1 December 2021
Had the pleasure of chatting to the team at YA Books Central about all things Fragments.
1 November 2021
In my guest blog for YA Book Central, I offer a sneak peak of Fragments, just released in script format following its sellout debut season at The Street Theatre in Canberra.
13 October 2021
Huge thanks to author Melissa Wray for featuring me on her Dream Big, Read Often blog in this author interview.
5 October 2021
Covid-19 offered a masterclass in resilience and students, whether or not they realise it, have emerged stronger, multi-skilled and capable of tackling just about anything.
20 September 2021
Book Chat: Maura & Cam Macintosh
I confess: This is my favourite interview ever. Such considered, insightful questions. Sheer joy. Thank you Cam!
3 September 2019
The Street: Getting to Know Maura Pierlot
“Maura is an award-winning author and playwright who hails from New York, but has called Canberra home for nearly thirty years. In 2016 Maura won the SOLO Monologue Competition, Hothouse Theatre for her play, Tapping Out, which went on to receive three awards at Short+Sweet Sydney (2017). “
2 May 2018
Megan Higginson: In Conversation with Maura Pierlot
“Today, I have the pleasure to welcome Maura Pierlot to my blog on her whirlwind book blog tour for her latest book, The Trouble in Tune Town.
Maura is an author and playwright based in Canberra, who enjoys writing fiction for children and young adults. The Trouble in Tune Town is her first children’s picture book. “
29 April 2018
Boomerang Books: In Harmony with Maura Pierlot
“Author and playwright Maura Pierlot is no stranger to success with her most recent awards boosting her literary status beyond expectations. Last year she received high accolations, being announced Winner of the Charlotte Waring Barton Award and the CBCA Aspiring Writers Mentorship Program 2017 with HarperCollins.”
23 April 2018
Kellie Byrnes: Blog Tour & Author Interview – Maura Pierlot
“Over the next couple of weeks, assisted by Books on Tour, Maura Pierlot is running a blog tour to promote her new children’s book, The Trouble in Tune Town, illustrated by Sophie Norsa. Excitingly, the tour starts today, on my blog!”
22 April 2018
Just Kids’ Lit: Introducing Maura Pierlot & The Trouble in Tune Town
“Just Write For Kids and Books On Tour are super excited to introduce children’s author and playwright, Maura Pierlot, and her glorious picture book, The Trouble in Tune Town, for a wonderful, extended 14 days of blog tour bopping and boogieing! We can hardly contain ourselves”
5 April 2018
Share Your Story: Finding Your Own Tune: Interview with Maura Pierlot
Tell us a bit about yourself: I’m an author and playwright who hails from New York, but has called Australia home for over 25 years. I’ve been a frustrated, would-be novelist all my life, enjoying my work in medico-politics, ethics and business over the years, but always craving some sort of creative outlet.
21 December 2017
SCBWI: Maura Pierlot awarded KSP Fellowship
As part of her KSP Fellowship, Maura will be in residence from 26 March to 8 April at Katharine’s Place, KSP Writers’ Centre, where she plans to complete the script for the second act of her play, Leaving.