Autobiography of a Marguerite is an innovative autobiography about illness, family dysfunction, and identity, and how they can shape one another. The narrator struggles with the effects of her auto-immune illness, and struggles to separate herself from her troubled mother. The narrative that emerges from the connected prose poems is both revealing and mysterious. Fragmentation, non-linearity and the use of footnotes reflect the disruptive nature of illness and the nature of recalling memories and family patterns.

Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle’s work has appeared in a wide range of publications. Along with Hue & Cry Journal these include Sport and Landfall, and her poems have been selected for Best New Zealand Poems. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern letters, where she was awarded the Biggs Poetry Prize for her manuscript, the first rendition of Autobiography of a Marguerite. Her latest book Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life was published by Giramondo Publishing in 2021.