Denis Baker (born 1966) is a New Zealand novelist and short story writer.

Life and career

Baker was born in 1966 and grew up in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. He left New Zealand in 1987 and moved to London, where he attended

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' ...

at the University of London until 1991. From 1991 to 1992 he attended the

University of North Carolina at Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina, University of North Carolina system. It is accredited by the S ...

. he is based in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. In 1998 he was the runner-up in the ''

Sunday Star-Times The ''Sunday Star-Times'' is a New Zealand newspaper published each weekend in Auckland. It covers both national and international news, and is a member of the New Zealand Press Association and Newspaper Publishers Association of New Zealand. ...

'' short story competition, and in 1999 he was the runner up in the ''Takahe'' short story competition. In 2000 his collection of short stories, ''Floating Lines'', was published. A review by

Lydia Wevers Lydia Joyce Wevers (19 March 1950 – 4 September 2021) was a New Zealand literary historian, Literary criticism, literary critic, editor, and book reviewer. She was an academic at Victoria University of Wellington for many years, including act ...

described it as featuring male narrators who "express their emotions and are very aware of the games men play, the damage they do, the wounds they sustain"; she concluded that "realist masculine fiction in this country is in good shape". In 2002 he received a Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship. His first novel, ''On a Distant Island'', was published the same year. It is a novel about the New Zealand

overseas experience Overseas Experience (OE) is a New Zealand term for an extended overseas working period or holiday. It is sometimes referred to as "The big OE", in reference to the extended duration of the travel: typically at least one year, and often extended far ...

("OE") tradition, and was described in a review for ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand, ...

'' as an "intricately woven and totally engrossing story".

References

External links

Profile
on

Read NZ Te Pou Muramura Read NZ Te Pou Muramura (formerly the New Zealand Book Council) is a not-for-profit organisation that presents a wide range of programmes to promote books and reading in New Zealand. It was established in 1972 and its programmes have included ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Denis 1966 births Living people Writers from Auckland Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London University of North Carolina at Greensboro alumni 20th-century New Zealand short story writers 20th-century New Zealand male writers 21st-century New Zealand novelists 21st-century New Zealand short story writers 21st-century New Zealand male writers