View source for New Zealand literature

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{{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2021}}
'''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.<ref name="NZ History">{{cite web |title=Making of New Zealand literature |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/literature-in-new-zealand-1930-1960 |website=New Zealand History |publisher=Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=14 February 2021 |archive-date=14 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114212203/http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/literature-in-new-zealand-1930-1960 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Brit CK">{{Britannica|412777|New Zealand literature|Stead, C.K.}}.</ref> 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.<ref name="Brit CK"/>

New Zealand literature has developed into a major part of modern New Zealand culture through a growing readership, financial support and publicity for writers through literary awards and fellowships, and the development of literary journals and magazines. Many New Zealand writers have obtained local and international renown over the years, including the short-story writers [[Katherine Mansfield]], [[Frank Sargeson]] and [[Jacquie Sturm]], novelists [[Janet Frame]], [[Patricia Grace]], [[Witi Ihimaera]], [[Maurice Gee]], [[Keri Hulme]] and [[Eleanor Catton]], poets [[James K. Baxter]], [[Fleur Adcock]], [[Selina Tusitala Marsh]] and [[Hone Tuwhare]], children's authors [[Margaret Mahy]] and [[Joy Cowley]], historians [[Michael King (historian)|Michael King]] and [[Judith Binney]], and playwright [[Roger Hall (playwright)|Roger Hall]].

==History==
===Early works: pre-1870===
{{See also|Early New Zealand Books}}
[[File:Bul01BirdP020.jpg|thumb|Illustrations of the [[morepork]] (left) and the extinct [[laughing owl]] (right) by [[John Gerrard Keulemans]] in [[Walter Buller]]'s ''A History of the Birds of New Zealand''. 2nd edition. Published 1888.|left|upright]]
[[Polynesia]]n settlers began arriving in New Zealand in the late 13th or early 14th century, and became known as [[Māori people|Māori]] developing a distinct culture, including oral myths, legends, poetry, songs ([[Māori music#Waiata|waiata]]), and prayers. Public speaking on the [[marae]], a communal and sacred gathering place, was (and remains) a particularly important part of Māori culture, and performance was a key part of the oral tradition; for example the [[Karanga (Māori culture)|karanga]] (a ceremonial call) as part of the [[pōwhiri]] (welcoming ceremony).<ref name="Brit CK"/> The first book published in [[Māori language]] was in 1815 called ''A korao (korero) no New Zealand; or, the New Zealander's first book; being an attempt to compose some lessons for the instruction of the natives,'' printed in Sydney and written by Thomas Kendell in collaboration with Tuai, a young chief.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Alison |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q126124833 |title=He Kōrero: Words Between Us: First Māori–Pākehā Conversations on Paper |last2=Jenkins |first2=Kuni Kaa |date=2011-01-01 |publisher=Huia Publishers |language=English}}</ref> Kendell, chief [[Hongi Hika]], his nephew [[Waikato (rangatira)|Waikato]] and linguist [[Samuel Lee (linguist)|Samuel Lee]] developed a systematic written form of Māori language at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]] in England in 1820.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Thomas Kendall with Hongi Hika |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/thomas-kendall-painting |website=New Zealand History |publisher=Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=15 February 2021 |archive-date=16 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216151741/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/thomas-kendall-painting |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Page 2 – History of the Māori language |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/maori-language-week/history-of-the-maori-language |website=New Zealand History |publisher=Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=22 March 2021 |archive-date=6 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406153541/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/maori-language-week/history-of-the-maori-language |url-status=live }}</ref> The first printing press arrived in New Zealand in 1834, and the first book printed in New Zealand was a Māori translation of a [[catechism]] in 1830 by [[William Yate]], ''Ko Te Katikihama III''.<ref>{{DNZB|Binney|Judith|1y1|Yate, William|15 February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ko nga katikihama e wa: ka oti nei te wakamaori ki te reo o Nu Tirani |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/21370046 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901042328/https://natlib.govt.nz/records/21370046 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |access-date=15 February 2021 |website=National Library of New Zealand}}</ref>

As European settlers arrived in the country, they collected many Māori oral stories and poems, which were translated into English and published, such as ''Polynesian Mythology'' (1855) by [[George Grey]] and ''Maori Fairy Tales'' (1908) by [[Johannes Andersen (librarian)|Johannes Andersen]]. These stories, such as those about the god [[Māui (Māori mythology)|Māui]], became widely known among the non-Māori population of New Zealand as well as the Māori people.<ref name="Brit CK" /> A foundation was also laid for future Māori literature through Māori newspapers, Māori histories and literature associated with Māori religions, such as the [[Rātana]] and [[Pai Mārire]] movements.<ref name="Roots">{{cite web |last1=Holman |first1=Jeffrey Paparoa |title=Roots of Māori fiction – Story: Māori fiction – ngā tuhinga paki |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/maori-fiction-nga-tuhinga-paki/page-1 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=17 February 2021 |archive-date=1 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201145243/https://teara.govt.nz/en/maori-fiction-nga-tuhinga-paki/page-1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 19th century, most [[Pākehā]] New Zealanders saw themselves as British, and most publications were written by British authors for a British audience. While the first uses of the term "New Zealand literature" appeared in the 1860s, it was used in an aspirational sense; it took time for a distinctly New Zealand literature to develop.<ref name="Brit CK" /><ref name="Mercer">{{cite journal |last1=Mercer |first1=Erin |title='Slumming Among the Gravestones': Elizabeth Knox's "Daylight" and the New Zealand Canon |journal=Journal of New Zealand Literature |date=2013 |issue=31 |pages=130–149 |jstor=41939307 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41939307 |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref><ref name="The 19th">{{cite web |last1=Phillips |first1=Jock |title=The 19th century – Story: Arts and the nation |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/arts-and-the-nation/page-1 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=15 February 2021 |date=22 October 2014 |archive-date=28 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928025219/https://teara.govt.nz/en/arts-and-the-nation/page-1 |url-status=live }}</ref>  Early New Zealand books were generally narratives of visits and travel to New Zealand, such as ''A Narrative of a Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand in 1827'' (1832) by [[Augustus Earle]] or ''Station Life in New Zealand'' (1870) by [[Mary Anne Barker]],<ref>{{cite web |editor-last1=McLintock |editor-first1=A.H. |last1=Hall |first1=David Oswald William |title=LITERATURE |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/literature |website=An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966 |publisher=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=15 February 2021 |archive-date=20 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220171221/https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/literature |url-status=live }}</ref> or scientific works such as ''The New Zealanders Illustrated'', a rare book by natural history artist [[George French Angas]] (1847) and ''A History of the Birds of New Zealand'' (1872) by ornithologist [[Walter Buller]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The New Zealanders Illustrated |url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1417875 |website=Te Papa Tongarewa |access-date=15 February 2021 |archive-date=20 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220040735/https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1417875 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A History of the birds of New Zealand / by Walter Lawry Buller. 1873 |url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/1057025/a-history-of-the-birds-of-new-zealand-by-walter-lawry-buller |website=The Royal Collection Trust |access-date=15 February 2021 |archive-date=20 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920105342/https://www.rct.uk/collection/1057025/a-history-of-the-birds-of-new-zealand-by-walter-lawry-buller |url-status=live }}</ref> Early expressions of New Zealand identity in literature included, notably, ''Old New Zealand'' by "a [[Pākehā Māori|Pakeha Maori]]" ([[Frederick Edward Maning]]) and ''[[Erewhon]]'' by [[Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]], which drew on the author's experiences of living in [[Canterbury Region|Canterbury]] for five years.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wevers |first1=Lydia |title=Erewhon – Story: Fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/41911/erewhon |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101132045/https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/41911/erewhon |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="The 19th" />

===Maoriland movement: 1870–1914===
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, New Zealand nationalism began to emerge, with Pākehā writers adopting Māori stories and mythology. The term "Maoriland", proposed and often used as an alternative name for New Zealand around this time, became the centre of a literary movement in which colonialist writers were inspired by and adopted Māori traditions and legends.{{sfn|Stafford|Williams|2006|p=10}}<ref name="Cultural">{{cite web |last1=Phillips |first1=Jock |title=Cultural nationalism, 1890 to 1910 – Story: Arts and the nation |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/arts-and-the-nation/page-2 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=21 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921201951/https://teara.govt.nz/en/arts-and-the-nation/page-2 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Ray">{{cite news |last1=Ray |first1=William |title=Māoriland: New Zealand's forgotten name |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/432750/maoriland-new-zealand-s-forgotten-name |access-date=16 February 2021 |work=[[Radio New Zealand]] |date=13 December 2020 |archive-date=16 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216014948/https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/432750/maoriland-new-zealand-s-forgotten-name |url-status=live }}</ref> They were encouraged by a widespread belief among settlers that the Māori were a dying race who would not survive contact with Europeans.<ref name="Ray"/> Māori themselves were not creators or proponents of Maoriland work.{{sfn|Stafford|Williams|2012|p=17}}

For example, [[Thomas Bracken|Thomas Bracken's]] book ''Musings in Maoriland'' included the poem "New Zealand Hymn", which later became the New Zealand national anthem under the title "[[God Defend New Zealand]]".<ref name="Ray"/> Bracken and other poets such as [[Jessie Mackay]] and [[Arthur Henry Adams]] published poems about the Māori [[rangatira]] (chief) [[Te Rauparaha]], while [[Alfred Augustus Grace|Alfred Grace]], [[Jessie Weston (writer)|Jessie Weston]], and others wrote fictional short stories and novels with Māori themes.<ref name="Cultural"/> New Zealand's fourth premier, [[Alfred Domett]], wrote an epic poem, ''Ranolf and Amohia: A South-Sea Day-Dream'' (1872), which was over 100,000 words long and described a romance between a shipwrecked European man and a Māori woman.<ref name="Ray"/> In 1901, [[William Arthur Satchell|William Satchell]] launched a magazine called ''The Maorilander'', and the leftwing labour journal [[Maoriland Worker|''The Maoriland Worker'']] ran from 1910 to 1924.{{sfn|Stafford|Williams|2006|p=11}}<ref>{{cite web |title=The Maoriland Worker |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/maoriland-worker |via=Papers Past |publisher=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=29 September 2021}}</ref>

Colonial romances were popular, for example the works of [[Louisa Alice Baker|Louisa Baker]], [[Ellen Elizabeth Ellis|Ellen Ellis]], [[Edith Searle Grossmann]] and others,<ref name="Romance">{{cite web |last1=Wevers |first1=Lydia |title=Romance, Māori and pioneer fiction, 1880s to 1910s – Story: Fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-2 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=3 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603045647/https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-2 |url-status=live }}</ref> as were books about the [[New Zealand Wars]], typified by ''The Rebel Chief: A Romance of New Zealand'' (1896), by [[Hume Nisbet]]. The popular English children's author [[G. A. Henty]] wrote ''Maori and Settler: A Tale of the New Zealand Wars'' (1890). [[Lady Barker]] wrote two books about life in New Zealand; ''Station Life in New Zealand'' (1870) and ''Station Amusements in New Zealand'' (1873), and her husband [[Frederick Broome]] wrote ''Poems from New Zealand'' (1868).

Maoriland culture was artificial and grounded in romance rather than reality; as academics [[Jane Stafford (New Zealand professor)|Jane Stafford]] and [[Mark Williams (writer)|Mark Williams]] have said, "Maoriland signifies an effort to deny the real presence of Maori in New Zealand in favour of a mythologised or decorative presence".{{sfn|Stafford|Williams|2006|p=20}} For this reason, the term is now seen as archaic and colonial.{{sfn|Stafford|Williams|2006|p=10}} By the time of the [[First World War]], apart from a few individuals such as [[James Cowan (New Zealand writer)|James Cowan]] and [[Rudall Hayward]], the movement had largely ended.<ref name="Cultural"/> The term has been adopted in current times by the [[Māoriland Film Festival]], an organisation in [[Ōtaki, New Zealand|Ōtaki]] that promotes indigenous storytelling on screen.<ref>{{Cite web|date=24 March 2021|title=Māoriland festival to highlight Aotearoa's 'blossoming' film industry|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/maoriland-festival-to-highlight-aotearoas-blossoming-film-industry/TPPSKRNQ2FF6KYYN24AEOC2WC4/|access-date=29 September 2021|website=[[New Zealand Herald]] |language=en-NZ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=9 November 2016|title=Maoriland Film Festival|url=https://asianfilmfestivals.com/maoriland-film-festival/|access-date=29 September 2021|website=Asian Film Festivals|language=en}}</ref>

===Early 20th century: 1914–1939===
[[File:Katherine Mansfield (no signature).jpg|thumb|[[Katherine Mansfield]]|left|upright]]
New Zealand literature continued to develop in the early 20th century, with notable writers including the poet [[Blanche Edith Baughan]] and novelist [[Jane Mander]].<ref>{{cite web |editor-last1=McLintock |editor-first1=A.H. |title=LITERATURE – FICTION: Early fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/literature-fiction/page-2 |website=An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966 |publisher=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=14 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814012708/https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/literature-fiction/page-2 |url-status=live }}</ref> New Zealand's most famous and influential writer in these years was the short-story writer [[Katherine Mansfield]], who left New Zealand in 1908 and became one of the founders of [[literary modernism]]. She published three collections of stories in her lifetime: ''In a German Pension'' (1911), ''Bliss and Other Stories'' (1920) and ''The Garden Party and Other Stories'' (1922).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wevers |first1=Lydia |title=Katherine Mansfield – Story: Fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-3 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=3 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603194109/https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-3 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|King|2003|p=382}} She died in 1923, having (in the words of [[C. K. Stead]]) "laid the foundations for a reputation that has gone on to grow and influence the development of New Zealand literature ever since".<ref name="Brit CK"/> Another notable early writer was [[Ursula Bethell]], whose first poetry collection was published in 1929; her poetry is ascribed by the ''Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English'' as having "a plainness and spareness (as well as freshness of image) which distinguishes it from the more ornamented verse the country had previously produced".<ref name="OCTCL">{{Cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Stringer |editor1-first=Jenny |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English |title=Bethell, Ursula |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192122711.001.0001/acref-9780192122711-e-250 |access-date=14 December 2020 |date=2005 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-1917-2757-3 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901042329/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192122711.001.0001/acref-9780192122711-e-250 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Edith Joan Lyttleton]], who wrote as G.B. Lancaster, was New Zealand's most commercially successful writer in this period, known for her epic colonial romances.<ref>{{DNZB|Sturm|Terry|3l18|Lyttleton, Edith Joan|23 February 2021}}</ref>{{sfn|King|2003|p=385}} [[Herbert Guthrie-Smith|Herbert Guthrie-Smith's]] ''Tutira: The Story of a New Zealand Sheep Station'' (1921) was New Zealand's first significant environmentalist publication, and remains a classic of ecological writing; [[Michael King (historian)|Michael King]] said in 2003 that it is "still the best example of this genre."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/19-04-2017/bottom-of-the-lake-how-the-setting-for-a-classic-book-of-new-zealand-literature-became-a-toxic-swamp/|title=Bottom of the lake: How the setting for a classic book of New Zealand literature became a toxic swamp|last=Steer|first=Philip|date=19 April 2017|website=[[The Spinoff]] |access-date=5 March 2021|archive-date=7 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307060746/https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/19-04-2017/bottom-of-the-lake-how-the-setting-for-a-classic-book-of-new-zealand-literature-became-a-toxic-swamp/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/tutira|title=Tutira|website=New Zealand History|access-date=5 March 2021|archive-date=10 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410140238/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/tutira|url-status=live}}</ref>

By the 1930s, New Zealand writing was starting to become established, assisted by the growth of universities and small publishers.<ref name="NZ History"/> Notable works included ''[[Man Alone]]'' (1939) by [[John Mulgan]], an influential classic describing an isolated and alienated New Zealand man (which has itself become a cultural stereotype), influenced by the [[Great Depression]], ''Show Down'' (1936) by [[Margaret Escott]], and [[Frank Sargeson]]'s short story collection, ''A Man and His Wife'' (1940).<ref>{{cite web |editor-last1=McLintock |editor-first1=A.H. |title=LITERATURE – New impulses |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/literature/page-4 |website=An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966 |publisher=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=29 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529203910/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/literature/page-4 |url-status=live }}</ref> It was common at this time for writers, like Mansfield, to leave New Zealand and establish careers overseas: including Mulgan, [[Dan Davin]], who joined the [[Oxford University Press]], and journalist [[Geoffrey Cox (journalist)|Geoffrey Cox]].{{sfn|King|2003|p=505}} [[Ngaio Marsh]], who divided her time between New Zealand and England, wrote detective fiction in the 1930s and was known as one of the [[Detective fiction#Golden Age detective novels|"Queens of Crime"]].<ref name="New">{{cite web |last1=Wevers |first1=Lydia |title=New writers after the Second World War – Story: Fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-6 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=3 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603082843/https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-6 |url-status=live }}</ref> After the Depression, foreign theatre companies stopped touring New Zealand, which led to the establishment of a thriving amateur dramatic scene and playwrights such as [[Isobel Andrews]] achieving success through competitions held by the New Zealand Branch of the [[British Drama League]].<ref name="NZ History"/>

Writing was still largely a Pākehā endeavour at this time; many Māori were living in rural areas and recovering from the loss of their land and language, depopulation, and educational challenges. [[Te Rangi Hīroa]] and [[Āpirana Ngata]] wrote non-fiction and collected Māori songs and chants for publication, but there were limited opportunities for Māori in written literature.<ref name="Roots"/>

===Second World War and subsequent years: 1939–1960===
[[File:Ngaio Marsh crime writer January 1949.jpg|thumb|210px|[[Ngaio Marsh]] in January 1949]]
From 1941, New Zealand writing gained an international audience through [[John Lehmann]]'s periodical, [[New Writing|''Penguin New Writing'']]. A local version was produced between 1942 and 1945.<ref name="NZ History"/> In 1945, [[Frank Sargeson]] edited an anthology of short stories by New Zealand writers, called ''Speaking for Ourselves'', published by Caxton Press in New Zealand and by Reed & Harris in Melbourne, Australia.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Sargeson |editor1-first=Frank |title=Speaking for Ourselves |date=1945 |publisher=Caxton Press |location=Christchurch, NZ}}</ref> It received favourable reviews and writer [[Janet Frame]] later remembered how the stories in the collection "overwhelmed me by the fact of their belonging".<ref name="OCNZL SFO">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Robinson |first=Roger |editor1-last=Robinson |editor1-first=Roger |editor2-last=Wattie |editor2-first=Nelson |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature |title=Speaking for Ourselves (1945) |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001/acref-9780195583489-e-1152 |access-date=25 November 2020 |date=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-1917-3519-6 |oclc=865265749 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901042329/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001/acref-9780195583489-e-1152 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 1945, [[Allen Curnow]] published the anthology ''A Book of New Zealand Verse 1923–45'', which marked the beginning of New Zealand literature's post-colonial and nationalist phase;<ref name="Brit CK"/> [[Charles Brasch]] compared it to "a hard frost" that "killed off weeds, and promoted sound growth", and said it "set a standard not for poetry alone but for all the arts".{{sfn|Brasch|1980|p=391}} Curnow and Brasch were just two of their generation of poets who began their careers with [[Caxton Press (New Zealand)|Caxton Press]] in the 1930s, and had a major influence on New Zealand poetry; others in the group were [[A. R. D. Fairburn]], [[R. A. K. Mason]] and [[Denis Glover]].<ref name="Caxton">{{cite web |last1=Newton |first1=John |title=The Caxton poets – Story: Poetry |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/poetry/page-4 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=20 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920141638/https://teara.govt.nz/en/poetry/page-4 |url-status=live }}</ref> Their poems can be contrasted with the work of South African-born [[Robin Hyde]], who was excluded from this nationalist group, but whose novel ''The Godwits Fly'' (1938) was considered a New Zealand classic and continuously in print until the 1980s.<ref name="Caxton"/>{{sfn|Stafford|Williams|2012|p=5}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Edmond-Paul |first1=Mary |title=Robin Hyde (Iris Wilkinson), 1906–1939 |journal=Kōtare |date=2008 |volume=7 |issue=1 |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Whi071Kota-t1-g1-t11.html |access-date=16 February 2021 |publisher=Victoria University Press |location=Wellington, NZ|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190518124934/http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Whi071Kota-t1-g1-t11.html |archive-date=18 May 2019 }}</ref> In 1946, the New Zealand Literary Fund was established to provide subsidies and scholarships for local publishing and writing.{{sfn|King|2003|p=508}}<ref>{{cite web |editor-last1=McLintock |editor-first1=A.H. |last1=Stevens |first1=Joan |title=Literary Fund |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/literary-awards/page-6 |website=An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966 |publisher=Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=23 February 2021 |archive-date=22 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222090150/https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/literary-awards/page-6 |url-status=live }}</ref>

It was in the 1950s that, as historian and poet [[Keith Sinclair]] said, "New Zealand intellect and imagination came alive".<ref name="NZ History"/> By the 1950s there were a wide range of outlets for local literature, such as the influential journal [[Landfall (journal)|''Landfall'']] (established in 1947), and the bilingual quarterly ''[[Te Ao Hou / The New World]]'', which from 1952 to 1975 was a vehicle for Māori writers.<ref name="NZ History"/> [[Janet Frame]]'s first novel, ''[[Owls Do Cry]]'', was published in 1957, and she became the most acclaimed and well-known New Zealand novelist of the 20th century. Her work often drew on her experiences in psychiatric hospitals and featured stylistic experimentation and exploration of social conditions.<ref name="OCNZL Frame">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Worthington |first=Kim |editor1-last=Robinson |editor1-first=Roger |editor2-last=Wattie |editor2-first=Nelson |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature |title=Frame, Janet |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001/acref-9780195583489-e-418 |access-date=21 November 2020 |date=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-1917-3519-6 |oclc=865265749 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001 |archive-date=13 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113120558/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001/acref-9780195583489-e-418 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Wevers |first1=Lydia |title=Janet Frame – Story: Fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-7 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=17 February 2021 |archive-date=3 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603033738/https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-7 |url-status=live }}</ref>

A new generation of young New Zealand poets eventually emerged, in particular the "[[Wellington Group]]", which rejected the nationalism of Curnow and the other Caxton poets.<ref name="James">{{cite web |last1=Newton |first1=John |title=James K. Baxter and poets of the 1950s and 1960s – |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/poetry/page-5 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=17 February 2021 |archive-date=10 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510155909/https://teara.govt.nz/en/poetry/page-5 |url-status=live }}</ref> They argued that New Zealand poets could now focus on universal themes, rather than the New Zealand identity.<ref name="NZ History"/> [[James K. Baxter]] was the most famous and prolific of these poets, and is widely regarded today as the definitive New Zealand poet.<ref name="James"/> Baxter was a controversial figure who was known for his incorporation of European myths into his New Zealand poems, his interest in Māori culture and language, his religious experiences, and the establishment of a commune at [[Jerusalem, New Zealand]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hawkins-Dady |first1=Mark |title=Reader's Guide to Literature in English |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-1353-1417-0 |page=217 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ww5ddqXGPVYC&pg=PT216 |access-date=6 November 2020 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901042328/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ww5ddqXGPVYC&pg=PT216 |url-status=live }}</ref> Other members of the Wellington Group included [[Alistair Te Ariki Campbell]] and [[Fleur Adcock]]; the scholars [[C. K. Stead]] and [[Vincent O'Sullivan (New Zealand writer)|Vincent O'Sullivan]] also became well known for their poetry around this time.<ref name="James"/>

==Modern literature==
===Māori and Pasifika writing===
[[File:Witi Ihimaera (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Witi Ihimaera]] at the premiere of his play, ''All My Sons'', at the [[Circa Theatre]], Wellington, on 11 November 2015|left|upright]]
After the [[Second World War]], Māori began to move into urban areas and had more educational opportunities available, which led to the emergence of Māori writing in English.<ref name="Roots"/> In 1948 the debut novel ''The Cunninghams'' by Māori author [[David Ballantyne]] was published. He was not promoted at that time as being a Maori author.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-11-08 |title=The strange case of the first Māori author |url=https://www.newsroom.co.nz/page/the-strange-case-of-the-first-maori-author?mc_cid=66f4e5a8ac |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=Newsroom |language=en-AU}}</ref> In 1964, [[Hone Tuwhare]], the first Māori poet to be distinguished for English poetry, published his first book, ''No Ordinary Sun'', and in 1966 [[Jacquie Sturm]] became the first Māori writer to appear in a major anthology of New Zealand short stories.<ref name="Brit CK"/> Authors like Sturm, [[Arapera Blank]], [[Rowley Habib]] and [[Patricia Grace]] were published for the first time in ''Te Ao Hou'' and became widely known and respected.<ref name="Development">{{cite web |last1=Holman |first1=Jeffrey Paparoa |title=Development of Māori fiction – Māori fiction – ngā tuhinga paki |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/maori-fiction-nga-tuhinga-paki/page-2 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=17 February 2021 |archive-date=26 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126144237/https://teara.govt.nz/en/maori-fiction-nga-tuhinga-paki/page-2 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Witi Ihimaera]] was the first Māori writer to publish a collection of short stories (''Pounamu, Pounamu)'' in 1972 and the first to publish a novel (''Tangi)'' in 1973. His novel ''Whale Rider'' (1987) was adapted into an [[Whale Rider|internationally successful film]] in 2002.<ref name="Development"/> The notable anthology ''Into the World of Light'' (1982), edited by Ihimaera and [[Don Long (writer)|Don Long]], collected the work of 39 Māori writers. The editors observed that publishers in the mid-20th century were reluctant to publish books by Māori writers because of a belief that Māori "don't read books".<ref name="OCNZL Into">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Millar |first1=Paul |editor1-last=Robinson |editor1-first=Roger |editor2-last=Wattie |editor2-first=Nelson |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature |title=Into the World of Light: An Anthology of Maori Writing |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001/acref-9780195583489-e-584 |access-date=14 April 2021 |date=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-1917-3519-6 |oclc=865265749 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414110111/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001/acref-9780195583489-e-584 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>  Grace was the first Māori woman writer to publish a short story collection (''Waiariki)'' in 1975 and has since received international awards and acclaim for her books for adults and children.<ref name="Development"/> [[Keri Hulme]] and [[Alan Duff]] were the best-known Māori writers to follow Grace and Ihimaera. Duff is known for the widely acclaimed ''[[Once Were Warriors]]'' (1990), which became a [[Once Were Warriors (film)|successful 1994 film]] and has never been out of print.<ref name="Māori and Pacific">{{cite web |last1=Wevers |first1=Lydia |title=Māori and Pacific writers and writing about Māori – Story: Fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-10 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=24 February 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602215753/https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-10 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Karlo_Mila_MNZM_(cropped).jpg|left|thumb|227x227px|[[Karlo Mila]] MNZM]]
A 1985 article published in the literary journal ''Landfall'' by [[Miriama Evans]] outlined a lack of publishing of Māori writers with the following being recognised but "largely unpublished": [[Ani Hona|Ani Hona (Te Aniwa Bisch)]] who received a Literary Fund grant in 1977, [[Rowley Habib]] who held the [[Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship]] in 1984, [[Bub Bridger]] who received a grant to attend the First International Feminist Book Fair (London) in 1984, and [[Bruce Stewart (playwright)|Bruce Stewart]], who received grants from the [[Creative New Zealand|Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council]] and the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (New Zealand)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] to represent New Zealand at The Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies Conference in [[Fiji]] in 1985.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Evans |first=Miriama |date=March 1985 |title=Politics and Maori Literature |journal=Landfall |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=40–44}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Conferences |url=http://aclals.net/conferences/ |website=ASLACS}}</ref> The Māori owned independent publisher [[Huia Publishers]] was established in 1991 by [[Robyn Bargh]] to platform Māori writers and perspectives.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Publishers / Ngā Kaitā |url=https://www.maorilithub.co.nz/publishers-nga-kaita/ |access-date=5 June 2023 |website=Māori Literature Hub}}</ref>

Māori literature is closely connected to [[Pacific Islander|Pasifika]] literature.<ref name="Makereti">{{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Frow |editor1-first=John|last1=Makereti |first1=Tina |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Literary Theory |date=30 June 2020 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |url=https://oxfordre.com/literature/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.001.0001/acrefore-9780190201098-e-984 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.984 |access-date=16 May 2022 |chapter=Indigenous Studies: Aotearoa/New Zealand|isbn=978-0-19-020109-8 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Notable [[Pasifika New Zealanders|Pasifika]] (Pacific Islander) writers with connections to New Zealand include [[Albert Wendt]], [[Alistair Te Ariki Campbell]], [[Karlo Mila]], [[John Pule]], [[Lani Wendt Young]], [[Courtney Sina Meredith]], [[Oscar Kightley]] and [[Selina Tusitala Marsh]].<ref name="Rodger">{{cite web |last1=Rodger |first1=Victor |title=Pacific Writing in New Zealand: The Niu Wave |url=https://www.anzliterature.com/feature/pacific-writing-new-zealand-niu-wave/ |website=Academy of New Zealand Literature |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901042330/https://www.anzliterature.com/feature/pacific-writing-new-zealand-niu-wave/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Where are our Pasifika writers? |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/pasifika/our-community/news/news-archives/2016-news/where-are-our-pasifika-writers |website=Victoria University of Wellington |access-date=17 June 2021 |date=2016 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195922/https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/pasifika/our-community/news/news-archives/2016-news/where-are-our-pasifika-writers |url-status=live }}</ref>

Wendt is known for ''Sons for the Return Home'' (1973), which describes the experiences of a young Samoan man in New Zealand, and his later novels and short-story collections have formed the foundations for a Pasifika literature in English.<ref name="Māori and Pacific" />

===Fiction===
[[File:Elizabeth Knox Wellington Writers Walk.jpg|alt=words in metal on a wooden boardwalk with the harbour in the distance|thumb|Words from New Zealand writer [[Elizabeth Knox]] as public art in [[Wellington]]]]
Notable writers in the post-Second World War period include [[Janet Frame]], [[Owen Marshall]], [[Ronald Hugh Morrieson]], [[Bill Pearson (New Zealand writer)|Bill Pearson]], [[Sylvia Ashton-Warner]] and [[Essie Summers]].<ref name="New"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Marshall, Owen |url=https://www.read-nz.org/writer/marshall-owen/ |website=Read NZ Te Pou Muramura |access-date=2 October 2021}}</ref> In the 1960s, two young novelists, [[Maurice Shadbolt]] and [[Maurice Gee]], both became well known for their traditional, socially realistic novels featuring New Zealand politics and history.<ref name="Brit CK"/> Gee's [[Plumb (novel series)|''Plumb'' trilogy]] continues to be widely read, and the first novel, ''Plumb'' (1979), was voted by literary experts in 2018 to be the best New Zealand novel of the last fifty years.<ref name="Best 50">{{cite news |title=The 50 best New Zealand books of the past 50 years: The official listicle |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/14-05-2018/the-best-50-new-zealand-books-of-the-past-50-years-the-official-listicle/ |access-date=21 November 2020 |work=[[The Spinoff]] |date=14 May 2018 |archive-date=9 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109071559/https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/14-05-2018/the-best-50-new-zealand-books-of-the-past-50-years-the-official-listicle/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The feminist movement in the 1970s and 1980s was the context for many women writers who emerged in that period, including [[Fiona Kidman]], [[Marilyn Duckworth]] and [[Barbara Anderson (writer)|Barbara Anderson]], who wrote works exploring and challenging gender roles.<ref name="New 1970s">{{cite web |last1=Wevers |first1=Lydia |title=New writers of the 1970s and 1980s – Story: Fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-8 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=9 March 2021 |archive-date=28 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128162339/https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-8 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:PaulCleaveWORD2018.jpg|thumb|Crime novelist [[Paul Cleave]] is one of New Zealand's most successful crime writers]]
New Zealand fiction has grown exponentially since the mid-1970s, due to a growing readership locally and internationally, creative writing courses such as the [[International Institute of Modern Letters]] at [[Victoria University of Wellington]], and financial support through [[List of New Zealand literary awards|literary awards and scholarships]].<ref name="Contemporary">{{cite web |last1=Wevers |first1=Lydia |title=Contemporary fiction – Story: Fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-9 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=9 March 2021 |archive-date=3 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603094725/https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-9 |url-status=live }}</ref> Internationally successful New Zealand writers include [[Elizabeth Knox]], known for ''[[The Vintner's Luck]]'' (1998) and her other diverse fiction, [[Emily Perkins (novelist)|Emily Perkins]], [[Fiona Farrell]], [[Damien Wilkins (writer)|Damien Wilkins]], [[Nigel Cox (author)|Nigel Cox]] and crime novelist [[Paul Cleave]].<ref name="Contemporary"/> [[Keri Hulme]] gained prominence when her novel, ''[[The Bone People]]'', won the [[Booker Prize]] in 1985; she was the first New Zealander and the first debut novelist to win the prestigious award. Writer [[Lloyd Jones (New Zealand author)|Lloyd Jones]] was shortlisted for his 2007 novel ''[[Mister Pip]]''.<ref name="New 1970s"/> In 2013, [[Eleanor Catton]] became the second New Zealand winner (as well as the youngest winner) of the award for her novel ''[[The Luminaries]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Keri Hulme wins Booker Prize |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/keri-hulme-wins-booker-prize |website=New Zealand History |publisher=Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=27 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227124535/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/keri-hulme-wins-booker-prize |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Non-fiction===
New Zealand has a significant non-fiction tradition, with natural history, colonisation, Māori/Pākehā relations, childhood and identity being recurring themes.<ref name="NF summary">{{cite web |last1=Calder |first1=Alex |title=Story summary – Story: Non-fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/non-fiction |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=5 March 2021 |archive-date=19 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210219184705/https://teara.govt.nz/en/non-fiction |url-status=live }}</ref> Important autobiographical works by New Zealand writers include trilogies by Frank Sargeson in the 1970s (''Once is Enough'', ''More than Enough'' and ''Never Enough!''), [[Janet Frame]] in the 1980s (''To the Is-land'', ''An Angel at my Table'' and ''The Envoy from Mirror City''), and [[C. K. Stead]]'s two-part series ''South-west of Eden'' (2010) and ''You Have a Lot to Lose'' (2020).<ref name="Becoming">{{cite web |last1=Calder |first1=Alex |title=Becoming at home – Story: Non-fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/non-fiction/page-4 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=5 March 2021 |archive-date=5 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505213809/https://teara.govt.nz/en/non-fiction/page-4 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Simpson |first1=Emily |title=CK Stead: I'm an alien, a book man |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/300022755/ck-stead-im-an-alien-a-book-man |access-date=5 March 2021 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |date=7 June 2020 |archive-date=4 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210404184103/https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/300022755/ck-stead-im-an-alien-a-book-man |url-status=live }}</ref>

Much of New Zealand's significant non-fiction is historical in nature. [[James Belich (historian)|James Belich]] is known for his writing on the [[New Zealand Wars]]. [[Judith Binney]] is known for her biography of [[Te Kooti]], ''Redemption Songs'' (1995) and her history of [[Tūhoe]], ''Encircled Lands'' (2009).<ref name="Questioning">{{cite web |last1=Calder |first1=Alex |title=Questioning orthodoxies – Story: Non-fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/non-fiction/page-6 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=5 March 2021 |archive-date=10 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810184946/https://teara.govt.nz/en/non-fiction/page-6 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Linda Tuhiwai Smith]]'s 1999 academic work ''[[Decolonizing Methodologies|Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples]]'' has been an important contribution to Māori and indigenous research.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prestigious Rutherford Medal awarded to Distinguished Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith |url=https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2023/11/24/prestigious-rutherford-medal-awarded-to-distinguished-professor-linda-tuiwai-smith/ |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=Te Ao Māori News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=MSD |title=Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples |url=https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/journals-and-magazines/social-policy-journal/spj17/decolonizing-methodologies-research-and-indigenous-peoples.html |access-date=2023-11-30 |publisher=MSD}}</ref>

Historian [[Michael King (historian)|Michael King]] began his career writing biographies about notable Māori people, including biographies of [[Te Puea Hērangi]] (1977) and [[Whina Cooper]] (1983). In the mid-1980s, aware of the importance of allowing Māori voices to speak, he wrote about what it meant to be a non-Māori New Zealander in ''Being Pākehā'' (1985), and published biographies of [[Frank Sargeson]] (1995) and [[Janet Frame]] (2000).<ref name="Questioning"/> His ''Penguin History of New Zealand'' was the most popular New Zealand book of 2004 and was named by ''[[The New Zealand Herald]]'' in 2009 as the best book of the preceding decade.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ten years of NZ books |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/ten-years-of-nz-books/M7XLU7CKRSDUFVUI6TV6SCWTTU/ |access-date=5 March 2021 |work= [[The New Zealand Herald]] |date=7 February 2009 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901042330/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/ten-years-of-nz-books/M7XLU7CKRSDUFVUI6TV6SCWTTU/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Recent essay collections by Asian New Zealand writers include ''All Who Live on Islands'' (2019) by [[Rose Lu]] and ''Small Bodies of Water'' (2021) by [[Nina Mingya Powles]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|date=31 January 2020|title=Twinned Roots|url=https://landfallreview.com/twinned-roots/|access-date=12 October 2021|website=Landfall Review Online|language=en-NZ}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Woulfe |first1=Catherine |title=An ecstatic review of Nina Mingya Powles’ essay collection |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/26-12-2021/an-ecstatic-review-of-nina-mingya-powles-essay-collection |access-date=29 August 2024 |work=[[The Spinoff]] |date=26 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

===Children's and young adult literature===
[[File:Tantrum 2011518 354.jpg|thumb|[[Margaret Mahy]] and her winning book ''The Moon & Farmer McPhee'' at the 2011 [[New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards]]|left|upright]]
[[Margaret Mahy]] and [[Joy Cowley]] both had their first children's books published in 1969. Both became prolific and beloved authors, and have made a significant contribution to New Zealand children's literature.<ref name="Fantasy">{{cite web |last1=Pollock |first1=Kerryn |title=Fantasy and social realism, 1970s–2000s |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/childrens-and-young-adult-literature/page-3 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=22 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922020359/https://teara.govt.nz/en/childrens-and-young-adult-literature/page-3 |url-status=live }}</ref> Mahy won the [[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]] twice in the 1980s and in 2001 she won the [[Hans Christian Andersen Award]], the world's most prestigious children's literature award.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pollock |first1=Kerryn |title=Celebrated authors: Margaret Mahy (1st of 2) |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/43160/celebrated-authors-margaret-mahy |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=8 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808063629/https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/43160/celebrated-authors-margaret-mahy |url-status=live }}</ref> Cowley is internationally known for her children's educational books for children learning to read, as well as for her picture books, children's fiction, and [[Young adult fiction|young adult novels]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pollock |first1=Kerryn |title=Celebrated authors: Joy Cowley (2nd of 2) |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/43161/celebrated-authors-joy-cowley |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=8 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808063736/https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/43161/celebrated-authors-joy-cowley |url-status=live }}</ref> Other well-known authors for young children include [[Lynley Dodd]] (known for her picture books featuring small dog [[Hairy Maclary and Friends|Hairy Maclary]]), Patricia Grace, [[Kāterina Mataira]] (a leading Māori language author), [[Gavin Bishop]] (known particularly for illustration) and [[Peter Gossage]] (known for his picture book retellings of Māori myths and legends).<ref name="Fantasy"/>

New Zealand has a strong tradition of fantasy and social realism in novels for children and young adults. Maurice Gee became well known for his science fiction and fantasy books, notably ''[[Under the Mountain (novel)|Under the Mountain]]'' (1979) and ''The Halfmen of O'' (1982).<ref name="Fantasy"/> Other internationally well-known fantasy writers for children and young adults include [[Sherryl Jordan]], [[Gaelyn Gordon]], [[Elizabeth Knox]], [[Barbara Else]] and [[David Hair]].  From the 1980s, young adult literature emerged in New Zealand, with authors like Gee, [[Jack Lasenby]], [[Paula Boock]], [[Kate De Goldi]], [[Fleur Beale]], and [[David Hill (author)|David Hill]] tackling serious and controversial topics for teenage readers. [[Tessa Duder]]'s ''Alex'' quartet (1987–1992) explored issues of sexism, racism and personal trauma in 1950s and 1960s New Zealand. [[Bernard Beckett]] and [[Mandy Hager]] became well known in the 2000s for socially realistic and dystopian young adult fiction.<ref name="Fantasy"/>

===Poetry===
{{See also|List of New Zealand poets}}
[[James K. Baxter]], [[Alistair Te Ariki Campbell]], [[Fleur Adcock]], [[C. K. Stead]], and [[Vincent O'Sullivan (New Zealand writer)|Vincent O'Sullivan]] became well known for their poetry in the 1950s and 1960s, with Baxter in particular dominating New Zealand poetry in the 1960s.<ref name="Brit CK" /> Adcock is one of only two New Zealanders to have received the prestigious [[Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry]] (2006), with the other being Allen Curnow (who received the award in 1989).<ref>{{cite web |title=NZ poet Fleur Adcock wins prestigious Royal honour |url=https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nz-poet-fleur-adcock-wins-prestigious-royal-honour |website=New Zealand Government |access-date=9 March 2021 |date=26 April 2006 |archive-date=21 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221093551/https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nz-poet-fleur-adcock-wins-prestigious-royal-honour |url-status=live }}</ref> The 1970s and 1980s saw a shift away from New Zealand nationalism and the rise of confident young poets, often influenced by American writing and counterculture and writing about personal relationships; poets included [[Ian Wedde]], [[Bill Manhire]], [[Cilla McQueen]], [[Elizabeth Smither]], [[Sam Hunt (poet)|Sam Hunt]] and [[Murray Edmond]]. Cilla McQueen and Hunt are both well known for their performance poetry.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Newton |first1=John |title=The 1970s and the 'Freed' generation – Story: Poetry |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/poetry/page-6 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=17 February 2021 |archive-date=20 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920133526/https://teara.govt.nz/en/poetry/page-6 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1985, Ian Wedde and [[Harvey McQueen]] edited and published a new edition of ''The Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse'', which included poetry in Māori, a first for a New Zealand poetry anthology. Since then, New Zealand poetry has become more diverse and more difficult to characterise by theme.<ref name="Diversity">{{cite web |last1=Newton |first1=John |title=Diversity: since 1985 – Story: Poetry |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/poetry/page-7 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=9 March 2021 |archive-date=24 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924214157/https://teara.govt.nz/en/poetry/page-7 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Selina_Tusitala_Marsh_ONZM_(cropped).jpg|thumb|238x238px|[[Selina Tusitala Marsh]] ONZM]]
The [[National Library of New Zealand]] appoints a [[New Zealand Poet Laureate]].<ref>{{cite web |title=New Zealand Poet Laureate Award |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/about-us/scholarships-and-awards/poet-laureate |website=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=3 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203170908/http://natlib.govt.nz/about-us/scholarships-and-awards/poet-laureate |url-status=live }}</ref> Recent laureates include Selina Tusitala Marsh (2017–2019),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poetlaureate.org.nz/p/selina-tusitala-marsh-is-pasifika-poet.html|title=Selina Tusitala Marsh, New Zealand Poet Laureate 2017–2019|website=New Zealand Poet Laureate|publisher=National Library of New Zealand|access-date=19 February 2021|archive-date=6 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206200424/http://www.poetlaureate.org.nz/p/selina-tusitala-marsh-is-pasifika-poet.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[David Eggleton]] (2019-2022)<ref>{{cite web |title=David Eggleton, New Zealand Poet Laureate 2019–2021 |url=http://www.poetlaureate.org.nz/p/david-eggleton-new-zealand-poet.html |website=New Zealand Poet Laureate |publisher=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=6 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206200416/http://www.poetlaureate.org.nz/p/david-eggleton-new-zealand-poet.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Poet laureate's tenure extended after Hawke's Bay inauguration |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/poet-laureates-tenure-extended-after-hawkes-bay-inauguration/W3MDBGKYMB6YTWBH6I4IJQO6X4/ |access-date=6 August 2022 |work=[[Hawke's Bay Today]] |date=11 October 2020}}</ref> and [[Chris Tse (New Zealand writer)|Chris Tse]] (2022–2025). Other notable contemporary poets include [[Robert Sullivan (poet)|Robert Sullivan]], known for his first collection ''Jazz Waiata'' (1990) and more recent work including the collection ''Shout Ha! to the Sky'' (2010),<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Noel-Tod |editor1-first=Jeremy |encyclopedia=Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry |title=Sullivan, Robert (1967–) |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199640256.001.0001/acref-9780199640256-e-1717 |access-date=23 February 2021 |date=2013 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-1917-4452-5 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901042332/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199640256.001.0001/acref-9780199640256-e-1717 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Hera Lindsay Bird]], known for her popular autobiographical and provocative work,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ainge Roy |first1=Eleanor |title=Hera Lindsay Bird: I prefer poetry that allows room for ugliness and error |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/06/hera-lindsay-bird-i-prefer-poetry-that-allows-room-for-ugliness-and-error |access-date=9 March 2021 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=6 September 2016 |archive-date=6 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006194146/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/06/hera-lindsay-bird-i-prefer-poetry-that-allows-room-for-ugliness-and-error |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Karlo Mila]], whose work addresses both personal and political issues such as concerns of identity, migration, and community, some of which is included in the collections ''Dream Fish Floating'' (2006) and ''Goddess Muscle'' (2020).<ref>{{cite web |title=Karlo Mila |url=https://www.anzliterature.com/member/karlo-mila/ |website=Academy of New Zealand Literature |access-date=9 March 2021 |archive-date=3 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203091612/https://www.anzliterature.com/member/karlo-mila/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Playwriting===
{{See also|Performing arts in New Zealand}}
The 1960s saw significant developments in New Zealand playwriting, and the country's first professional theatre, the [[Downstage Theatre]], opened in Wellington in 1964.<ref name="Explosion">{{cite web |last1=Edmond |first1=Murray |title=Theatrical explosion: 1960s and 1970s – Story: Plays and playwrights |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/plays-and-playwrights/page-3 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=18 February 2021 |archive-date=9 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609230755/https://teara.govt.nz/en/plays-and-playwrights/page-3 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Playmarket]] was also founded in 1973 to represent and market New Zealand playwrights and their work.<ref name="Social">{{cite web |last1=Edmond |first1=Murray |title=Social issues on stage – Plays and playwrights |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/plays-and-playwrights/page-5 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=18 February 2021 |archive-date=9 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609230734/https://teara.govt.nz/en/plays-and-playwrights/page-5 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Bruce Mason]] was the country's first professional playwright.<ref name="170 Years">{{cite web |title=170 Years of New Zealand Theatre |url=https://courttheatre.org.nz/news/170-years-of-new-zealand-theatre/ |website=Court Theatre |access-date=19 February 2021 |date=25 September 2018 |archive-date=10 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210135645/https://courttheatre.org.nz/news/170-years-of-new-zealand-theatre/ |url-status=live }}</ref> His one-person show ''[[The End of the Golden Weather]]'' (1962), about a boy's loss of innocence in Depression-era New Zealand, was performed widely throughout New Zealand, and he explored Māori themes and the disintegration of Māori identity in ''The Pohutakawa Tree'' (1960) and ''Awatea'' (1969).<ref name="NZ History"/><ref name="Brit CK"/> [[Mervyn Thompson]], a controversial playwright, wrote plays with autobiographical and political elements such as ''O Temperance!'' (1974).<ref name="Brit CK"/> In 1976, a group of Downstage actors left to found the [[Circa Theatre]], and produced ''Glide Time'' by [[Roger Hall (playwright)|Roger Hall]] as one of their first productions.<ref name="Explosion"/> Hall became New Zealand's most commercially successful playwright, and ''Glide Time'' became a New Zealand icon and was turned into a TV sitcom.<ref name="Explosion"/><ref name="170 Years"/> [[Greg McGee]]'s ''[[Foreskin's Lament]]'' (1981), about small-town [[Rugby union|rugby]] culture in New Zealand, likewise achieved iconic status.<ref name="Social"/><ref name="Brit CK"/>

Drama further developed in the 1980s and 1990s with new playwrights finding success, including [[Renée (writer)|Renée]], [[Stuart Hoar]], [[Hone Kouka]] and [[Briar Grace-Smith]].<ref name="Brit CK"/><ref name="Social"/> [[Jean Betts|Jean Betts's]] feminist play ''Ophelia Thinks Harder'' (1993) was still widely performed in New Zealand and overseas as of 2014, and may be the most widely performed New Zealand play.<ref name="Social"/> The collective [[Pacific Underground]] developed the groundbreaking play ''Fresh off the Boat'' (1993), written by [[Oscar Kightley]] and [[Simon Small]], which was praised for its portrayal of Samoan life in New Zealand.<ref>{{cite news |title=How hard can it be? |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/eyewitness/audio/2018635725/how-hard-can-it-be |access-date=19 February 2021 |work=[[Radio New Zealand]] |date=15 March 2008 |archive-date=21 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921072818/https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/eyewitness/audio/2018635725/how-hard-can-it-be |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gates |first1=Charlie |title=Chch classic returns to the stage with mixed results |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/art-and-stage/116729340/chch-classic-returns-to-the-stage-with-mixed-results |access-date=19 February 2021 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |date=20 October 2019 |archive-date=21 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021221948/https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/art-and-stage/116729340/chch-classic-returns-to-the-stage-with-mixed-results |url-status=live }}</ref> New Zealand also has a tradition of independent theatre with companies creating original plays and collective works, including the [[Red Mole (Theatre Company)|Red Mole]] theatre group (1970s–2002), Barbarian Productions in Wellington (led by [[Jo Randerson]]), the Christchurch Free Theatre, the work of poet Murray Edmond with the Living Theatre Troupe, and the early work of [[Paul Maunder]] with the Amamus Theatre.<ref name="Explosion"/><ref name="2000s theatre">{{cite web |last1=Edmond |first1=Murray |title=Theatre into the 2000s – Plays and playwrights |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/plays-and-playwrights/page-6 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=25 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125163457/https://teara.govt.nz/en/plays-and-playwrights/page-6 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Literary awards==
{{See also|List of New Zealand literary awards}}
In the early 20th century, literary competitions in New Zealand were hosted by newspapers and magazines, and the university colleges hosted some literary prizes such as the [[Macmillan Brown Prize]]. In the 1940s the government-run New Zealand Literary Fund began to offer state-sponsored literary prizes in a wide range of genres.<ref name="Hamilton">{{cite book |last1=Hamilton |first1=Stephen |title=Book & Print in New Zealand : A Guide to Print Culture in Aotearoa |date=1997 |publisher=Victoria University Press |location=Wellington, NZ |isbn=0-86473-331-3 |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-GriBook-_div3-N133D9.html |access-date=5 March 2021 |chapter=Recognition, and rewards of success |archive-date=5 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180205032330/http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-GriBook-_div3-N133D9.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The first private literary award was the biennial [[Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award]], a short-story competition organised by the [[New Zealand Women Writers' Society]] and funded by the [[Bank of New Zealand]], which became available in 1959;<ref name="Hamilton"/><ref name="Page 2">{{cite web |last1=Derby |first1=Mark |title=Page 2. Literary awards, 1950s onwards |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/awards-and-prizes/page-2 |website=Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=5 March 2021 |archive-date=3 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103211449/https://teara.govt.nz/en/awards-and-prizes/page-2 |url-status=live }}</ref> this award ran until 2015.<ref>{{cite web |title=Katherine Mansfield Awards |url=https://www.bnzheritage.co.nz/archives/story/katherine-mansfield-awards |website=BNZ Heritage |access-date=5 March 2021 |archive-date=2 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302170055/https://www.bnzheritage.co.nz/archives/story/katherine-mansfield-awards |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Ngaio Marsh Awards]] are awarded annually for the best New Zealand mystery, crime and thriller fiction writing.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nyren |first1=Neil |date=14 November 2018 |title=Ngaio Marsh: A Crime Reader's Guide to the Classics: Diving into the Life and Work of New Zealand's Queen of Crime |url=https://crimereads.com/ngaio-marsh-a-crime-readers-guide-to-the-classics/ |access-date=2 December 2018 |website=CrimeReads |publisher=CrimeReads.com}}</ref>

{{as of|2021}}, the annual [[Ockham New Zealand Book Awards]] offer five principal prizes: fiction (currently known as the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction), general non-fiction (sponsored by [[Royal Society Te Apārangi]]), illustrated non-fiction, poetry (currently known as the [[Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry]]) and Te Mūrau o te Tuhi Māori Language Award for books written entirely in [[te reo Māori|te reo (Māori language)]].<ref name="About">{{cite web |title=About the Awards |url=https://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/ |website=New Zealand Book Awards Trust |access-date=27 February 2021 |archive-date=2 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302205810/https://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/ |url-status=live }}</ref> These annual awards have changed names several times due to different sponsors over the years, and were created in 1996 from the amalgamation of the Montana Book Awards (previously the Goodman Fielder Wattie Awards, running from 1968 to 1995) and the government-run New Zealand Book Awards (running from 1976 to 1995).<ref name="Hamilton"/><ref name="Page 2"/> The [[New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults]] are also presented annually to recognise excellence in literature for children and young adults. These awards began in 1982 and have had several name changes due to different sponsors over the years.<ref name="Page 2"/>

A number of literary fellowships are available in New Zealand. These fellowships give writers the opportunity to stay at a particular place with their accommodation and other costs funded. The first fellowship was the [[Robert Burns Fellowship]], set up anonymously (although widely attributed to Charles Brasch) at the [[University of Otago]] in 1958. Another prestigious fellowship is the [[Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship]], founded by a trust in 1970, which enables writers to spend at least three months in [[Menton]], France, where Katherine Mansfield lived and wrote.<ref name="Hamilton"/><ref name="Page 2"/>

The [[Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement]] were established in 2003 and are awarded annually to writers who have made a significant contribution to New Zealand literature.<ref name="Page 2"/>

== Literary festivals ==
[[File:Hannah_Parry_and_Elizabeth_Knox_at_DWRF_2021_(cropped).jpg|thumb|[[H. G. Parry|Hannah Parry]] and [[Elizabeth Knox]] at the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival 2021]] There are a number of regular literary festivals held in different locations across New Zealand. Some are stand-alone and some are part of arts festivals.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Writing Festivals and Book Fairs|url=https://authors.org.nz/writing-festivals-and-book-fairs/|access-date=1 October 2021|website=New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc) Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa|language=en-US|archive-date=17 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217135807/https://authors.org.nz/writing-festivals-and-book-fairs/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Stand-alone festivals include [[Going West]] (established in 1996), [[WORD Christchurch]] (established in 1997),<ref name=":1" /> the [[Auckland Writers Festival]] (established in 1999),<ref name=":3" /> the [[Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival|Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival]] (established in 2014), the [[Verb Wellington|Verb Writers Festival & LitCrawl]] (established in 2014),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Festivals|url=https://www.verbwellington.nz/festival-archives|access-date=2 October 2021|website=Verb Wellington|language=en-NZ}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title=About Verb|url=https://www.verbwellington.nz/about|access-date=1 October 2021|website=Verb Wellington|language=en-NZ}}</ref> the Hokianga Book Festival and the Whanganui Literary Festival.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Whanganui Literary Festival|url=http://www.writersfest.co.nz/|access-date=1 October 2021|website=Whanganui Literary Festival|language=en}}</ref> The small town of [[Featherston, New Zealand|Featherston]] is one of 22 recognised [[book town]]s in the world and holds a Featherston Booktown event annually in May.<ref>{{Cite web|title=NZBC Stories Details|url=https://www.read-nz.org/new-zealand-book-scene/nzbc-stories-details/featherston-is-an-official-booktown?pageNum=1|access-date=1 October 2021|website=Read NZ|archive-date=2 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211002004133/https://www.read-nz.org/new-zealand-book-scene/nzbc-stories-details/featherston-is-an-official-booktown?pageNum=1|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2 October 2015|title=Featherston Booktown|url=https://wairarapanz.com/see-and-do/featherston-booktown|access-date=1 October 2021|website=Destination Wairarapa|language=en}}</ref> Former literary festivals include [[NZ Book Month|New Zealand Book Month]], which ran from 2006 to 2014.<ref>{{Cite web|title=New Zealand Book Month|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/nz-book-month|access-date=2 October 2021|website=NZ History|publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage|language=en}}</ref> The Verb festival in Wellington in 2019 held a panel event where three out of five panellists were writers of Chinese heritage, Rosabel Tan, Gregory Kan and [[Chen Chen (poet)|Chen Chen]]; writer Nina Mingya Powles said she thought this was the first time that had happened in New Zealand and that this felt like a "groundbreaking moment" for Chinese New Zealand writers.<ref name=":5" />

Other literary events include the writers' section of the Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival (held in February and March),<ref name=":0" /> the Verb Wellington writers and readers programme at the [[New Zealand Festival of the Arts|New Zealand Festival]] (held every two years in March),<ref name=":4" /> the Aspiring Conversations with authors at the Festival of Colour (held in April in [[Wānaka]]),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Festival of Colour Wanaka – 2021|url=https://www.festivalofcolour.co.nz/|access-date=1 October 2021|website=Festival of Colour|language=en-US}}</ref> the New Zealand Mountain Film & Book Festival focusing on adventurous sports and lifestyles (held every two years in [[Queenstown, New Zealand|Queenstown]] in July),<ref>{{Cite web|title=New Zealand Mountain Film & Book Festival {{!}} 25 June 2021|url=https://mountainfilm.nz/|access-date=1 October 2021|website=New Zealand Mountain Film & Book Festival|language=en-US}}</ref> the readers and writers' week at the [[Taranaki Arts Festival]] (held every two years in July and August),<ref name=":0" /> the readers and writers programme at the Tauranga Arts Festival (held every two years in October),<ref name=":2" /> the Hawke’s Bay Readers and Writers Festival (held annually in conjunction with the Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival, usually in mid to late October)<ref>{{Cite web|title=ABOUT|url=https://www.hbreadersandwriters.co.nz/p/about-us.html|access-date=1 October 2021|website=Hawke's Bay Readers and Writers Festival|language=en-GB}}</ref> and the Nelson Arts Festival Readers and Writers week (held annually in October).<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Events Calendar|url=https://www.read-nz.org/events-calendar/|access-date=1 October 2021|website=Read NZ}}</ref> In 2020 and 2021 many literary festivals were disrupted or cancelled due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand|COVID-19 pandemic]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Home|url=https://wordchristchurch.co.nz/|access-date=1 October 2021|website=WORD Christchurch}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Events – Tauranga Festival|url=https://www.taurangafestival.co.nz/events|access-date=1 October 2021|website=Tauranga Festival}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Past Festivals|url=https://www.writersfestival.co.nz/past-festivals|access-date=1 October 2021|website=Auckland Writers Festival}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=A six day festival of the arts around the Bay of Islands Region|url=http://upsurgefestival.co.nz/|access-date=1 October 2021|website=UPSURGE Festival|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Literary journals and periodicals==
[[File:New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, May 1900 cover.jpg|thumb|Cover of ''The New Zealand Illustrated Magazine'' in May 1900, a short-lived periodical (1899–1905)]]
{{See also|List of print media in New Zealand}}
Early New Zealand literary journals included ''The Triad'' (founded by [[Charles Nalder Baeyertz]] in 1893 and closed in 1926), ''The New Zealand Illustrated Magazine'' (founded in Auckland in 1899 and closed in 1905) and ''Art in New Zealand'' (founded by [[Charles Allan Marris]] in 1928 and closed in 1946).<ref name="Schrader 1890">{{cite web |last1=Schrader |first1=Ben |title=Literary magazines, 1890 to 1930 – Story: Magazines and periodicals |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/magazines-and-periodicals/page-2 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=9 March 2021 |archive-date=26 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026033509/https://teara.govt.nz/en/magazines-and-periodicals/page-2 |url-status=live }}</ref> The short-lived magazine ''Phoenix'', published in 1932 by students at the [[University of Auckland]] and edited by [[James Munro Bertram]] and [[R. A. K. Mason]], was an early outlet for New Zealand nationalist writers such as Brasch and Curnow.<ref name="Schrader 1930">{{cite web |last1=Schrader |first1=Ben |title=Art and literary magazines, 1930 to 1950 – Story: Magazines and periodicals |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/magazines-and-periodicals/page-4 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=9 March 2021 |archive-date=25 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025164014/https://teara.govt.nz/en/magazines-and-periodicals/page-4 |url-status=live }}</ref> Left-wing artist [[Kennaway Henderson]] founded the fortnightly magazine [[Tomorrow (New Zealand magazine)|''Tomorrow'']] in 1934, which was influential in shaping New Zealand nationalist literature and literary criticisms, but was shut down by the government as subversive in 1940.<ref name="Schrader 1930"/> Other early journals and magazines included ''New Zealand Mercury'' (a poetry magazine established by [[Helen Langford]], 1933 to 1936), ''Oriflamme'' and ''Sirocco'' (published in 1933 by students of [[University of Canterbury|Canterbury University College]], including [[Denis Glover]]), ''Book'' (featuring [[Caxton Press (New Zealand)|Caxton Press]] writers and edited by [[Anton Vogt]], 1942 to 1947)<ref name="Schrader 1930"/> and the ''New Zealand Railways Magazine'' (published by the Railway Department from 1926 to 1940).<ref name="Popular">{{cite web |last1=Schrader |first1=Ben |title=Popular magazines, 1920 to 1939 – Story: Magazines and periodicals |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/magazines-and-periodicals/page-3 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=9 March 2021 |archive-date=1 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301124315/https://teara.govt.nz/en/magazines-and-periodicals/page-3 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1947, Caxton Press began publishing the quarterly journal ''[[Landfall (journal)|Landfall]]'', edited by [[Charles Brasch]]; it is still published today on a twice-yearly basis.<ref name="Schrader 1930"/> The journal has been described by [[Peter Simpson (writer)|Peter Simpson]] as "the most important and long-lasting journal in New Zealand's literature".<ref name="OCNZL Landfall">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Simpson |first=Peter |editor1-last=Robinson |editor1-first=Roger |editor2-last=Wattie |editor2-first=Nelson |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature |title=Landfall |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001/acref-9780195583489-e-671 |access-date=16 November 2020 |date=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-1917-3519-6 |oclc=865265749 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001 |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816195421/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001/acref-9780195583489-e-671 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Brasch's successor as editor, [[Robin Dudding]], left ''Landfall'' in 1972 to set up a competing journal called ''[[Islands (journal)|Islands]]'', and some of ''Landfall'''s key contributors switched their allegiance to this new journal; ''Landfall'' did not recover its status as the leading literary journal of New Zealand until the editorship of [[David Dowling]] in the early 1980s.<ref name="OCNZL Landfall" /> Other important literary journals in New Zealand include ''[[Sport (New Zealand magazine)|Sport]]'', founded by [[Fergus Barrowman]] in 1988, ''takahē'', a Christchurch journal founded in 1989 focussing on short stories, poetry, and art, and ''Poetry New Zealand,'' which has published local and overseas work since 1993.<ref name="internet">{{cite web |last1=Schrader |first1=Ben |title=Literary magazines, internet publishing, 1960s to 2010s – Story: Magazines and periodicals |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/magazines-and-periodicals/page-6 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=9 March 2021 |archive-date=31 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031110418/https://teara.govt.nz/en/magazines-and-periodicals/page-6 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The magazine ''[[New Zealand Listener]]'' was founded by the government in 1939 to publish radio listings, but extended its brief to cover current affairs, opinion, and literary works. Among the writers featured in the magazine over the years were [[Maurice Duggan]], [[Noel Hilliard]], [[Keith Sinclair]], Maurice Shadbolt, Fiona Kidman, and Joy Cowley, and poets James K. Baxter, Allen Curnow, [[Ruth Gilbert (poet)|Ruth Gilbert]], and [[Ruth France]]. In 1990, the magazine was privatised and subsequently became more of a lifestyle magazine, although it continues to have a focus on literary works.<ref name="Popular"/> Another important government-founded magazine was ''[[Te Ao Hou / The New World]]'', a quarterly magazine published in both English and Māori from 1952 to 1975 by the [[Te Puni Kōkiri|Māori Affairs Department]]; it was the first national magazine for Māori.<ref name="OCNZL Te Ao Hou">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Wattie |first=Nelson |editor1-last=Robinson |editor1-first=Roger |editor2-last=Wattie |editor2-first=Nelson |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature |title=Ao Hou, Te / The New World |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001/acref-9780195583489-e-42 |access-date=19 November 2020 |date=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-1917-3519-6 |oclc=865265749 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001 |archive-date=30 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030013250/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001/acref-9780195583489-e-42 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=McRae |first1=Jane |title=Māori magazines – Story: Māori newspapers and magazines – ngā niupepa me ngā moheni |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/maori-newspapers-and-magazines-nga-niupepa-me-nga-moheni/page-5 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=26 September 2021}}</ref> The ''[[New Zealand School Journal]]'' was founded by the New Zealand [[Ministry of Education (New Zealand)|Department of Education]] in 1907 and has been published by a private firm since 2013; since the 1940s it been known for the high quality of its children's literature.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pollock |first1=Kerryn |title=Story: Children's and young adult literature — Page 2. Fairies, families and adventures, 1900s–1960s |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/childrens-and-young-adult-literature/page-2 |website=Te Ara: The New Zealand Encyclopedia |date=1 August 2016 |access-date=2 April 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Māori poetry]]
*[[New Zealand Writers Guild]]
*[[List of New Zealand writers]]
*[[List of New Zealand women writers]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |last= Brasch |first= Charles |title= Indirections: A Memoir 1909–1947 |year= 1980 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Wellington, NZ |isbn= 0-19-558050-8 |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BraIndi.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103011308/http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BraIndi.html |archive-date=3 November 2020 |access-date=16 February 2021}}
*{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Michael |title=The Penguin History of New Zealand |date=2003 |publisher=Penguin Group (NZ) |location=Auckland, NZ |isbn=978-1-7422-8826-0}}
*{{cite book |last1=Stafford |first1=Jane |last2=Williams |first2=Mark |title=Maoriland: New Zealand Literature 1872-1914 |date=2006 |publisher=Victoria University Press |location=Wellington, NZ |isbn=978-0-8647-3522-5 |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-StaMaor-t1-body-d0.html |access-date=16 February 2021}}
*{{Cite book | publisher = Auckland University Press | isbn = 9781869405892 | editor1-last = Stafford | editor1-first = Jane  | editor2-last = Williams | editor2-first = Mark  | title = Anthology of New Zealand literature | location = Auckland, NZ | year = 2012}}

==External links==
* [https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/ New Zealand Electronic Text Centre]
* [https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/subject-000005.html New Zealand literature] at the [[New Zealand Electronic Text Centre]]
* [http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/ New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre]
* [https://www.read-nz.org/ Read NZ Te Pou Muramura]

{{New Zealand topics}}
{{English literature}}
{{Oceanian topic|| literature}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:New Zealand literature| ]]
[[Category:English-language literature]]