C.K. Stead

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
The New Poetic, 1964; Quesada, 1975, New Zealand Book Award for Poetry, 1976; Straw Into Gold: Poems New and Selected, 1997; The Right Thing, 2000; Dog, 2002; The Red Tram, 2004; The Black River, 2007; Collected Poems 1951-2006, 2008.

C.K. Stead's fiction 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, and also made a Distinguished Citizen of the City of Auckland, the city's highest honour.