Alistair Campbell (poet)

Alistair Campbell. Courtesy Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand.

Alistair Te Ariki Campbell
Born	Alistair Campbell June 25 1925(1925-Template:MONTHNUMBER-25) Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Died	August 16 2009(2009-Template:MONTHNUMBER-16) (aged 84)
Occupation	poet, playwright, and novelist
Literary movement	Wellington Group
Spouse(s)	Aline Margaret (Meg) Anderson Fleur Adcock (divorced)

Alistair Te Ariki Campbell ONZM (25 June 1925 - 16 August 2009) was a New Zealand poet, playwright, and novelist.

Life

Campbell was born in Rarotonga and spent his childhood on Penrhyn island, the home of his mother, Teu (Bosini), a Cook Island Maori. His father's name was Jock Campbell, a Scot.

In 1932, when Campbell was 7, his mother died from tuberculosis. The following year, his father also died and he was sent with his 2 brothers to an orphanage in Dunedin, on New Zealand's South Island.

He attended Otago Boys' High School in Dunedin, and then studied at the University of Otago and Victoria University of Wellington. At University he became good friends with James K. Baxter, another famous New Zealand poet.

He became a member of the Wellington Group in the 1950s. The group was just an affiliation of a number of writers who mostly shared a common opposition to Allen Curnow's, another notable New Zealand writer, ideas and writings.

He lived most of his life in New Zealand, mainly around the Wellington region, and for several decades in Pukerua Bay, Porirua.

Born Alistair Campbell, he later added 'Te Ariki' after going back to the Cook Islands and discovering his grandfather had ties to chiefdom. In his grandfather's honour, Campbell added Te Ariki (the chief) to his name.

He married poet Fleur Adcock, from whom he was later divorced. His 2nd wife, Aline Margaret (Meg) Anderson, was also a poet, under the name Meg Campbell. Alistair had a total of 5 children, 2 with Adcock and 3 with Meg Campbell.

From 1976 to 1979, he was the President of the New Zealand branch of PEN-International.

Recognition

Campbell received many honors, most notably the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry (1982), the Pacific Islands Artist Award (1998), an Honorary DLitt from Victoria University of Wellington (1999), and a Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement (2005).

In 2005 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

In popular culture

Campbell's poem, "The Return," was set to electronic music by Douglas Lilburn.

Publications

Poetry

• Mine Eyes Dazzle Poems, 1947-1949. Christchurch, NZ: Pegasus Press, 1950
  • 2nd revised edition, Christchurch, NZ: Pegasus Press, 1956.
• Sanctuary of Spirits. Wellington: Wai-te-ata Press, 1963.
• Wild Honey, London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1964.
• Blue Rain: Poems, Wellington: Wai-te-ata Press, 1967.
• Drinking Horn. Paremata, NZ: Bottle Press, 1970.
• Kapiti: Selected poems, 1947-1971. Christchurch, NZ: Pegasus Press, 1972.
• Dreams, Yellow Lions: Poems. Waiura, NZ: A. Taylor, 1975.
• Collected Poems, 1947-1981. Martinborough, NZ: Alister Taylor, 1981.
• Soul Traps: A lyric sequence. Pukerua Bay, NZ : Te Kotare Press, 1985.
• Stone Rain: The Polynesian strain. Christchurch, NZ: Hazard Press, 1992.
• Death and the Tagua. Wellington: Wai-te-ata Press, 1995.
• Pocket Collected Poems, Christchurch, NZ: Hazard Press, 1996.
• Gallipoli, and other poems, Wellington: Wai-te-ata Press, 1999.
• Maori Battalion: A poetic sequence. Wellington: Wai-te-ata Press, 2001.
• Poets in Our Youth: Four letters in verse. Wellington: Pemmican Press, 2002.
• The Dark Lord of Savaiki: Collected poems Christchurch, NZ: Hazard Press, 2005.
• Just Poetry. Wellington: HeadworX, 2007.
• Two Poems. Wellington: HeadworX, 2007.
• It's Love, Isn't It? The love poems (with Meg Campbell). Wellington: HeadworX, 2008.

Novels

• The Frigate Bird. Auckland, NZ: Heinemann, Reed, 1989.
• Sidewinder. Auckland, NZ: Reed, 1991.
• Tia. Auckland, NZ: Reed, 1993.
• Fantasy with Witches. Christchurch, NZ: Hazard Press, 1998.

Non-fiction

• Maori Legends: Some myths and legends of the Maori people. Wellington: Seven Seas, 1969.
• Island to Island (memoir). Christchurch, NZ: Whitcoulis, 1984.

Juvenile

• The Happy Summer. Christchurch, NZ: Whitcombe & Tombs, 1961.
• The Milk We Drink (Our Daily Milk. Wellington: Milk Publicity Council, [1962?]
• The Fruit Farm. Wellington: School Publications Branch, Dept. of Education, 1970.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• Maori poets
• List of New Zealand poets

External links

Poems

• "To Stuart"
• Alistair Campbell at the New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre
• Poems by Alistair Te Ariki Campbell at Burning Moon

Audio / video

• Alistair Te Ariki Campbell (1925-2009) in The Poetry Archive

Books

• Alistair Te Ariki Campbell at Amazon.com

About

• Campbell, Alistair Te Ariki at the New Zealand Book Council
• Alistair Te Ariki Campbell obituary in The Guardian