Fleur Adcock
Fleur Adcock OBE (born
February 10,
1934) is a
New Zealand born
poet and editor of
Irish ancestry who has lived much of her life in
England. She has published thirteen books of poetry.
Adcock was born in
Papakura, New Zealand but spent the years between
1939 and
1947 living and studying in England. She is a sister to
Marilyn Duckworth. She studied
Classics at the
Victoria University of Wellington, graduating with a
M.A.. She worked as an assistant lecturer librarian at the
University of Otago in
Dunedin until
1961. In
1962 she married
Barry Crump, divorcing in
1963.
In
1963, Adcock returned to England and took up a post as librarian at the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office in
London. Apart from a brief return to New Zealand in 1975-1976, she has lived in
Finchley, north
London ever since, teaching and working as a freelance writer.
Adcock's poetry is typically concerned with themes of place and everyday activities, but frequently with a dark twist given to the mundane events she writes about. Formally, her early work was influenced by her training as a classicist but her more recent work is looser in structure and more concerned with the world of the unconscious mind. Her publications include
Selected Poems (
1983) and
Looking Back (
1997). She has edited
The Faber Book of 20th Century Women's Poetry (
1987) and
The Oxford Book of Contemporary New Zealand Poetry (
1982).
Adcock was created an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire in
1996 for her contribution to
New Zealand literature.
It was announce that she is the
2006 recipient of the prestigious
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.
*
Fleur Adcock The Expatriate Poet*
List of New Zealand literary figures*
