Terence Laurie Sturm CBE (11 July 1941 –25 May 2009) was a New Zealand professor of English literature and editor. His scholarship was mainly in the fields of Australian and New Zealand literature. He lectured at the University of Sydney from 1967 to 1980,after which he became professor of English at the University of Auckland. He edited the Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English (first edition 1991,second edition 1998).
Sturm was born in Auckland on 11 July 1941,one of four children of orchardist Leslie Sturm and Gladys Ashby. [1] [2] He grew up in the suburb of Henderson;he attended Henderson High School and transferred to Auckland Grammar School at the suggestion of his English teacher. [1] [2] He was of British,German,and Māori descent (Ngāti Rakaipaaka), [1] and was a great-grandson of botanist Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Sturm and Pakapaka Tiarere. [2]
He obtained his undergraduate and master's degree from the University of Auckland in the early 1960s, [3] [4] and received the Fowlds Memorial Prize for the best student in the arts faculty. [5] In 1964 he married his first wife,Helen Gilbert. [2]
In 1967 Sturm graduated with his doctorate from the University of Leeds. [3] [4] Having received the New Zealand Postgraduate Scholarship and Eliot Davis Scholarship,he initially planned to complete his doctorate at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. [1] [5] [2] However,his potential supervisor Donald Davie moved overseas. [1] He therefore transferred to Leeds where he was supervised by Norman Jeffares. [1] His thesis was about New Zealand and Australian poetry. [2]
Sturm lectured in the English department at the University of Sydney from 1967 to 1980, [3] [4] and was promoted to senior lecturer in 1972 and associate professor in 1978. [1] [5] [2] During this time he edited two works by Frank S. Anthony for the New Zealand Fiction series being published by Auckland University Press. [1] [2] He also contributed a chapter on drama and theatre to The Oxford History of Australian Literature. [1] [2]
In 1980,he was made chair and professor of English at the University of Auckland. [3] [4] [5] From 1982 to 1992 he was the chairman of the New Zealand Literary Fund Advisory Committee and its successor,the Literature Committee at the Queen Elizabeth 2 Arts Council. [3] [4] In 1984 he edited a collection of poems by Christopher Brennan for the Queensland University Press. [1]
The New Zealand Herald described Sturm as playing a "leading role in placing New Zealand literature at the centre of the academic curriculum". [6] As professor at the University of Auckland and head of the English department for three terms,he expanded courses on both Australian and New Zealand literature,including establishing the first chair in New Zealand literature,held initially by Albert Wendt. [1] [3] [5] In addition to serving as head of department he also spent time serving as Assistant Pro-Vice Chancellor (Māori), [1] and from 2000 to 2003 as Associate Dean (Research). [5]
In the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honours,he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire,for services to literature. [1] [7] Around 1993 his first marriage broke down,and he met Linda Cassells,the publisher for Oxford University Press;they married in 2002. [2]
He was the editor of the Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English,published in 1991 (first edition) and 1998 (second edition). [3] [4] He was the writer of the chapter on popular fiction,and directed the concept and approach of the whole work. [1] Michael King in a review described it "as close to perfection as such a book can come". [1] He also edited the New Zealand section of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English (1994). [1] In 1998 and 2000 he edited two collections of poems by Louis Johnson. [1] From 1997 to 2001,he served as the first convenor of the humanities panel of the Marsden Fund. [1]
In 2003,he published An Unsettled Spirit:The Life &Frontier Fiction of Edith Lyttleton,a biography about Edith Lyttleton. It was a finalist for the biography award at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2004. [3] Fellow academic MacDonald P. Jackson called it "a rich contribution to the history of postcolonial writing,of women's writing,and of the publishing industry". [1] In 2006 he retired from the university and was appointed emeritus professor. [2] [6]
One of his research areas was the work of Allen Curnow who sometimes wrote humorous verse under the pseudonym Whim Wham;Sturm was the editor of the 2005 collection Whim Wham's New Zealand:the best of Whim Wham,1937–1988,which was launched by then prime minister Helen Clark. [1] At the time of his death in 2009 he had been editing a comprehensive collection of Curnow's poems for publication,in addition to writing a biography. [5] Both were published in two volumes by Auckland University Press in 2017;editing the collected poems was completed by Elizabeth Caffin. [8] The biography was edited and completed by Cassells,his widow. [8] [9]
New Zealand literature is literature,both oral and written,produced by the people of New Zealand. It often deals with New Zealand themes,people or places,is written predominantly in New Zealand English,and features Māori culture and the use of the Māori language. Before the arrival and settlement of Europeans in New Zealand in the 19th century,Māori culture had a strong oral tradition. Early European settlers wrote about their experiences travelling and exploring New Zealand. The concept of a "New Zealand literature",as distinct from English literature,did not originate until the 20th century,when authors began exploring themes of landscape,isolation,and the emerging New Zealand national identity. Māori writers became more prominent in the latter half of the 20th century,and Māori language and culture have become an increasingly important part of New Zealand literature.
James Keir Baxter was a New Zealand poet and playwright. He was also known as an activist for the preservation of Māori culture. He is one of New Zealand's most well-known and controversial literary figures. He was a prolific writer who produced numerous poems,plays and articles in his short life,and was regarded as the preeminent writer of his generation. He suffered from alcoholism until the late 1950s. He converted to Catholicism and established a controversial commune at Jerusalem,New Zealand,in 1969. He was married to writer Jacquie Sturm.
William Manhire is a New Zealand poet,short story writer,emeritus professor,and New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate (1997–1998). He founded New Zealand's first creative writing course at Victoria University of Wellington in 1975,founded the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2001,and has been a strong promoter of New Zealand literature and poetry throughout his career. Many of New Zealand's leading writers graduated from his courses at Victoria. He has received many notable awards including a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2007 and an Arts Foundation Icon Award in 2018.
Thomas Allen Monro Curnow was a New Zealand poet and journalist.
Samuel Percival Maitland Hunt is a New Zealand poet,especially known for his public performances of poetry,not only his own poems,but also the poems of many other poets. He has been referred to as New Zealand's best-known poet.
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.
Charles Orwell Brasch was a New Zealand poet,literary editor and arts patron. He was the founding editor of the literary journal Landfall,and through his 20 years of editing the journal,had a significant impact on the development of a literary and artistic culture in New Zealand. His poetry continues to be published in anthologies today,and he provided substantial philanthropic support to the arts in New Zealand,including by establishing the Robert Burns Fellowship,the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship and the Mozart Fellowship at the University of Otago,by providing financial support to New Zealand writers and artists during his lifetime,and by bequeathing his extensive collection of books and artwork in his will to the Hocken Library and the University of Otago.
Landfall is New Zealand's oldest extant literary magazine. The magazine is published biannually by Otago University Press. As of 2020,it consists of a paperback publication of about 200 pages. The website Landfall Review Online also publishes new literary reviews monthly. The magazine features new fiction and poetry,biographical and critical essays,cultural commentary,and reviews of books,art,film,drama,and dance.
Albert Tuaopepe Wendt is a Samoan poet and writer who lives in New Zealand. He is one of the most influential writers in Oceania. His notable works include Sons for the Return Home,published in 1973,and Leaves of the Banyan Tree,published in 1979. As an academic he has taught at universities in Samoa,Fiji,Hawaii and New Zealand,and from 1988 to 2008 was the professor of New Zealand literature at the University of Auckland.
William Kendrick Smithyman was a New Zealand poet and one of the most prolific of that nation's poets in the 20th century.
Lydia Joyce Wevers was a New Zealand literary historian,literary critic,editor,and book reviewer. She was an academic at Victoria University of Wellington for many years,including acting as director of the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies from 2001 to 2017. Her academic research focussed on New Zealand literature and print culture,as well as Australian literature. She wrote three books,Country of Writing:Travel Writing About New Zealand 1809–1900 (2002),On Reading (2004) and Reading on the Farm:Victorian Fiction and the Colonial World (2010),and edited a number of anthologies.
MacDonald Pairman Jackson FNZAH is a New Zealand scholar of English literature. Most of his work is on English Renaissance drama;he specialises in authorship attribution. He is also internationally recognised for his work on Shakespeare's texts.
Leigh Robert Davis was a New Zealand writer who created long poems and large-scale,mixed-media projects in which he worked with painters,designers and composers. He was known for the highly experimental nature of his creative work.
Marilyn Rose Duckworth is a New Zealand novelist,poet and short story writer. Since her first novel was published at the age of 23 in 1959,she has published fifteen novels,one novella,a collection of short stories and a collection of poetry. Many of her novels feature women with complex lives and relationships. She has also written for television and radio. Over the course of her career she has received a number of prestigious awards including the top prize for fiction at the New Zealand Book Awards for Disorderly Conduct (1984) and a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2016.
Kenneth Owen Arvidson (1938–2011),was a New Zealand poet and academic.
Wystan Tremayne Le Cren Curnow is a New Zealand art critic,poet,academic,arts administrator,and independent curator. He is the son of Elizabeth Curnow,a painter and printmaker,and poet Allen Curnow.
Elizabeth Palmer Caffin is a writer,editor and publisher from New Zealand.
Roger John Horrocks is a New Zealand writer,film-maker,educator and cultural activist.
Michael Harlow is a poet,publisher,editor and librettist. A recipient of the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship (1986) and the University of Otago Robert Burns Fellowship (2009),he has twice been a poetry finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards. In 2018 he was awarded the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement,alongside playwright Renée and critic and curator Wystan Curnow Harlow has published 12 books of poetry and one book on writing poetry.
Sheridan Keith is a New Zealand author,artist,broadcaster and curator.
International | |
---|---|
National | |
Academics | |
People | |
Other |