Tuesday 21 February 2023 9:09am
Dr Mira Harrison-Woolrych with copies of her short story collections.
Dr Mira Harrison-Woolrych believes everyone has an interesting story to tell.
An author of two collections of short stories, as well as a researcher, editor and trained obstetrician, Dr Harrison-Woolrych uses both fact and fiction to explore women’s health issues and women’s roles in the health system.
Currently a Research Coordinator at the Dunedin School of Medicine’s Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Dr Harrison-Woolrych always wanted to be a doctor.
Born in Birmingham in the United Kingdom, during a stint in hospital as a child she became very unwell.
“Mum spoke about a ‘lady doctor’ who she credited with saving my life. I think that’s how my interest in medicine and women’s health started.”
Writing has also always featured – Dr Harrison-Woolrych wrote short stories at school and as a medical student. As a qualified doctor, it was difficult to carve out any time to write when she was doing 100-hour weeks on the wards, but the passion remained.
“I’ve always felt I am a writer as well as a doctor.”
Dr Harrison-Woolrych is interested in the balance between professional and private worlds, and the juggling that healthcare professionals, especially women, face in their everyday lives.
“I like to show the multi-faceted aspects of women’s lives. As well as working, they are often taking kids to school and looking after elderly relatives, for example.”
Dr Harrison-Woolrych and her family have lived in Dunedin since 2001. In addition to fiction writing, she has been involved with women’s health research, medical ethics and pharmacovigilance (monitoring the safety of medicines).
She says she never discloses patient stories in her fiction, but she does show that hospitals are institutions that rely on everyone working together, whether they are porters, nurses, cleaners or doctors.
Written under the name Mira Harrison, her first short story collection was published in 2018 – Admissions: tales of life, death and love in a hospital not far from here. This was followed by New Admissions: tales of life, death and love in the time of lockdown in 2020. Both collections have “triumph and disaster elements” and focus on women working in public hospitals. They are available to purchase at Antidote pharmacy, in Dunedin Public Hospital.
“I’m very grateful to Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature staff and Antidote management for their support.”
Since publication of Admissions, Dr Harrison-Woolrych has completed a novel about a junior doctor’s first year working in NHS hospitals during the 1980s. Her literary agent is currently seeking publication of this book in the UK.
Find out more: www.miraharrison.com
- Kōrero by Andrea Jones, Team Leader, Divisional Communications