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Profile
C.K. Stead is a leading figure in Commonwealth literature. He is a novelist,
poet, literary critic, essayist and Emeritus Professor of English from The University
of Auckland. His work is remarkable for its intelligence, its range, its technical
skill, its deft wit and, above all, for its delight in language and in story.
Selected published works
Smith’s Dream, 1971; All Visitors Ashore, 1984,
New Zealand Book Award for Fiction 1985; The Singing Whakapapa, 1994,
New Zealand Book Award for Fiction 1995; Kin of Place: Essays
on 20 New Zealand Writers, 2002; Mansfield, 2004; My Name Was Judas, 2006; Book Self: The Reader as Writer and the Writer as Critic, 2008.
C.K. Stead's poetry can be found here.
Publishers
Auckland University Press www.auckland.ac.nz/aup
Random House New Zealand www.randomhouse.co.nz
Harvill Secker UK www.harvillsecker.co.uk
Biography
Christian Karlson Stead was born in New Zealand in 1932. He lives in
Auckland but spends a part of each year living and writing overseas. In his
early years, he was a protégé of leading New Zealand writers,
Frank Sargeson and Allen Curnow. He is now a poet, novelist, short story writer,
influential literary critic, essayist and editor, who has written more than
ten novels, two books of short stories, six of literary criticism, and thirteen
volumes of poetry.
Internationally recognised for his writing, Stead is, perhaps, still best-known
in New Zealand for Smith’s Dream, which was made into the landmark
New Zealand film Sleeping Dogs (1977). Stead’s work is always
beautifully crafted, urbane and entertaining, appealing to a wide readership.
In his poetry, in particular, he is always open to innovation and experimentation.
Skilfully plotted and fast-paced, his novels range widely in time and place,
often incorporating (in teasing ways) aspects of the author’s life. His
literary criticism is also internationally admired for its erudite, clear, thought-provoking
and sometimes controversial comment on the work of other writers.
Stead is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, was awarded the Commander
of the British Empire for Services to Literature (1985), was Honorary Visiting
Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford (1997), was awarded an Honorary D.
Litt by the University of Bristol (2001) and won the 2001 King’s Lynn
Poetry Prize. He is Emeritus Professor from The University of Auckland, where
he was Professor of English for 20 years.
Stead is one of very few writers to have won New Zealand book awards for both
poetry and fiction. In 2005, he was awarded the Creative New Zealand Michael
King Writing Fellowship. In 2007, he was appointed to the Order of New Zealand,
the country's highest honour, marking a career in New Zealand literature spanning
more than 55 years. |
