W.H. Oliver

William Hosking Oliver (born 14 May 1925) is a New Zealand poet and historian.

Life
Oliver was born in Feilding, the son of Cornish immigrants. He studied at Victoria University of Wellington, where he received an M.A., and then completed a Ph.D. at the University of Oxford in 1953.

He returned to New Zealand and lectured at the University of Canterbury and Victoria, before becoming inaugural professor of history at Massey University in 1965. He was made emeritus professor on leaving Massey in 1984 to become general editor of the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.

He has written extensively on New Zealand history and published several volumes of poetry.

Recognition
On 9 September 2008 he was honoured in the Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement, Non-Fiction.

Poetry
Books of poetry:
 * 1957: Fire Without Phoenix: Poems 1946–1954, Christchurch: Caxton Press
 * Out of Season: Poems, Wellington & New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.
 * 1982: Poor Richard: Poems, Wellington: Port Nicholson Press
 * 1993: Bodily Presence: Words, Paintings, co-author: Anne Munz; Wellington: BlackBerry Press
 * Poems, 1946-2005. Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2005.

Non-fiction

 * The Story of New Zealand. London: Faber, 1960.
 * Prophets and Millennialists: The uses of biblical prophecy in England from the 1790s to the 1840s. Auckland: Auckland University Press / Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1978.
 * James K. Baxter: A portrait. Eastbourne, NZ: Port Nicholson Press, 1983.
 * Claims to the Waitangi Tribunal. Wellington: Waitangi Tribunal Division, Dept. of Justice, 1991.
 * Looking for the Phoenix: A memoir. Wellington: Bridget Williams, 2002.

Edited

 * The Oxford History of New Zealand (edited with B.R. Williams). Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press / Wellington & New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
 * A people's history : illustrated biographies from the Dictionary of New Zealand biography, volume one, 1769-1869. Wellington: Bridget Williams, 1992.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.