Initially trained to be a schoolteacher, Janet Frame later soared to fame with her short stories, poems, and her 3-part memoir, including An Angel at My Table. Misdiagnosed as schizophrenic, she spent almost a decade in mental hospitals. She wrote most of her works while in psychiatric care.
Sonja Yelich is a New Zealand poet best known as the mother of the popular singer-songwriter, Lorde. Sonja Yelich achieved popularity as a poet when she released her first collection of poems titled Clung which earned her the prestigious Jessie Mackay Award at the New Zealand Book Awards in 2005.
New Zealand author Witi Ihimaera started his career as a newspaper writer and then worked as a postal worker, before scripting history as the first Maori to publish a novel and a collection of short stories. His novel The Whale Rider was later made into an award-winning film.
New Zealand author Keri Hulme is best known for her Booker Prize-winning debut novel The Bone People. She has also used the pseudonym Kai Tainui to write books and has mostly dealt with themes related to the culture of Maori people. The Maori author initially worked as a tobacco picker.
One of New Zealand’s best-known poets, James K. Baxter was inspired by Romantic and British modernist poets and mythology. He also penned the popular radio play Jack Winter’s Dream, apart from various other plays and social and literary criticism. He used his Maori name Hemi later in life.
Fleur Adcock is a New Zealand poet and editor. She is of English and Northern Irish ancestry and has lived much of her life in England. She studied Classics at Victoria University of Wellington and began her career as an assistant lecturer at the University of Otago. She has worked as a freelance writer since 1980.
Kapka Kassabova is a writer and poet whose works have earned her several prestigious awards such as a Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Highland Book Prize. Many of her books have also been shortlisted for numerous awards including the Baillie Gifford Prize, the Duff Cooper Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Awards.
One of the most celebrated Maori poets of New Zealand, Hone Tuwhare started his career as an apprentice with the New Zealand Railways. He was also involved in trade unionism and was part of the 1975 Maori Land March. He was also the second Te Mata Poet Laureate.
Allen Curnow was a New Zealand journalist and poet. He is best remembered for his 1945 work Book of New Zealand Verse, which is regarded as a milestone in New Zealand literature. Allen Curnow also contributed to publications like The New Zealand Herald and The Press. He was a recipient of several awards, including the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.
Sylvia Ashton-Warner was a New Zealand non-fiction writer, novelist, poet, and pianist. She is best remembered for her contributions as a teacher and her ideas for a child-based approach to the teaching of writing and reading are used and debated internationally today. Sylvia Ashton-Warner received numerous awards, including the New Zealand Book Award in 1980.
Douglas Stewart was a 20th-century Australian poet, writer, essayist, and editor. He served as the literary editor of the Australian magazine, The Bulletin, for two decades. He published 13 collections of poetry and numerous short stories, essays, and articles in his prolific career. He also edited several poetry anthologies. He received the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1967.
C.K. Stead is a New Zealand writer best known for his novels, poems, short stories, and literary criticism. An internationally celebrated writer, Stead has received several prestigious awards such as the Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement and Sarah Broom Poetry Prize. C.K. Stead also served as the New Zealand Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017.
Sir Keith Sinclair was a New Zealand historian and poet who achieved widespread popularity for his debut book The Origins of the Maori Wars. His 1959 book A History of New Zealand is considered a classic in New Zealand history. In 2005, Sir Keith Sinclair was named in the New Zealand's Top 100 History Makers list.