Christian Karlson "Karl" Stead is a New Zealand writer whose works include novels, poetry, short stories, and literary criticism. He is one of New Zealand's most well-known and internationally celebrated writers.
Denis James Matthews Glover was a New Zealand poet and publisher. Born in Dunedin, he attended the University of Canterbury where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts, and subsequently lectured. He worked as a reporter and editor for a time, and in 1937 founded the Caxton Press, which published the works of many well-known New Zealand writers of the day. After a period of service in World War II, he and his friend Charles Brasch founded the literary magazine Landfall, which Caxton began publishing in 1947.
The Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry is an award at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, presented annually to the winner of the poetry category. The winner receives a NZ$10,000 prize.
Donna Tusiata Avia is a New Zealand poet and children's author. She has been recognised for her work through receiving a 2020 Queen's Birthday Honour and in 2021 her collection The Savage Coloniser won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. The Savage Coloniser and her previous work Wild Dogs Under My Skirt have been turned into live stage plays presented in a number of locations.
Titus Books is an independent New Zealand publisher. Founded in 2005, it was noted by reviewer Katherine Liddy in Landfall as an "exciting" addition to New Zealand literature.
Jack Ross, is a New Zealand poet, novelist, translator, editor and lecturer in creative writing. A trilogy of novels has been published by two different publishers, Alan Brunton's Bumper Books and Titus Books.
Sir Vincent Gerard O'Sullivan was a New Zealand poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, critic, editor, biographer, librettist, and academic. From 1988 to 2004 he was a professor of English literature at Victoria University of Wellington, and in 2013 he was appointed the New Zealand Poet Laureate.
Michael James Terence Morrissey is a New Zealand poet, short story writer, novelist, essayist, editor, feature article writer, book reviewer and columnist. He is the author of thirteen volumes of poetry, two collections of short stories, a memoir, two stage plays and four novels and he has edited five other books.
Bilders is a New Zealand music group of varying lineups that produced a string of self-recorded 7-inch vinyl releases between 1980 and 1982 leading to Beatin Hearts, the first studio-album from fledgling New Zealand independent record label 'Flying Nun Records'.
Hedley Colwill "Peter" Hooper was a New Zealand teacher, writer, bookseller and conservationist. He was born in London, England and emigrated to New Zealand at the age of four, growing up in the Nelson and West Coast districts. Hooper is a first cousin to Elric Hooper, a former director of Christchurch's Court Theatre.
Fiona Farrell is a New Zealand poet, fiction and non-fiction writer and playwright.
Rachel Phyllis McAlpine is a New Zealand poet, novelist and playwright. She is the author of 30 books including poetry, plays, novels, and books about writing and writing for the internet.
Maurice Reginald (Rex) Hunter was a New Zealand poet, playwright and fiction writer. He is best known for his work as a journalist in America as well as for his marriage to the South Carolina poet Gamel Woolsey in the 1920s and his friendships with writers Carl Sandburg, Ben Hecht, John Cowper Powys, E. E. Cummings and Llewelyn Powys.
Edward (Ted) Jenner was born in 1946 in Dunedin and died 8 July 2021 in Auckland. He was a New Zealand born poet, translator, teacher and researcher of Ancient Greek texts. He lived in New Zealand and overseas teaching Classics and producing poems, translations, and scholarly articles. His poetry and research have been reviewed and remarked upon.
Michael Oliver Johnson is a New Zealand author and creative writing teacher. He has written thirteen novels, eleven books of poetry, several short stories featured in critically acclaimed anthologies, and three children's books. Johnson has been awarded two literary fellowships in New Zealand, one with the University of Canterbury, and one with the University of Auckland. His novel Dumb Show won the Buckland Memorial Literary Award for fiction in 1997. He is also a founder of Lasavia Publishing Ltd, a publishing house created in Waiheke Island, New Zealand.
Sarah Quigley is a New Zealand writer.
Rachael Craw is a New Zealand writer of fantasy, romance and YA sci-fi cross-over books. She is an English and Drama teacher and lives in Nelson with her husband and three children.
James Samuel Norcliffe is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer, poet, editor, teacher and educator. His work has been widely published and he has been the recipient of a number of writing residencies. Several of his books have been shortlisted for or won awards, including The Loblolly Boy which won the New Zealand Post Junior Fiction Award in 2010. He lives at Church Bay, Lyttelton Harbour, New Zealand.
Frankie McMillan is a writer of poetry, fiction and flash fiction. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Bill Direen, A Memory of Others is a 2017 documentary film produced and directed by Simon Ogston that follows Dunedin-Christchurch poet Bill Direen from Dunedin to Auckland on a tour of music and phono-aesthetic poetry. The full 87-minute documentary begins in a small Otago town where Direen is preparing for the tour, leading to interviews at radio stations and live performances in cafés, music foundations, libraries and a children's school. Ogston invited Direen to write poems along the way, which he performed on subjects such as writer Janet Frame, composer Douglas Lilburn and poet James K. Baxter. The film shows him rehearsing with the current lineup of his band The Bilders, while playing footage of earlier groups, and showing the process whereby a 16mm film of song The Cup was restored and remastered by the New Zealand Film Archive. Final interviews with Kiran Dass and with Ogston himself reveal something of Direen's approach to poetry and music. The film ends with an extract from his novel Song of the Brakeman and a tune from a rare vinyl LP of 1987.
