David Eggleton (born 1952) is a New Zealand

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, critic and writer. Eggleton has been awarded the Ockham New Zealand Book Award for poetry and in 2019 was appointed

New Zealand Poet Laureate The New Zealand poet laureate is a poet appointed by the National Library of New Zealand to represent New Zealand's community of poets, to promote and advocate for poetry, and to produce a number of published works during their three-year tenure ...

, a title he held until 2022. Eggleton's work has appeared in a multitude of publications in New Zealand and he has released over 18 poetry books (1986–2001) with a variety of publishers, including

Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

Early life

Born 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 ...

and of mixed European,

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

n, and

Rotuma Rotuma () is a self-governing heptarchy, generally designated a Local government in Fiji, dependency of Fiji. Rotuma commonly refers to the Rotuma Island, the only permanently inhabited and by far the largest of all the islands in the Rotuma Gro ...

n descent, Eggleton spent part his formative years in both

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

and Auckland, dropping out of school to take up performance music and poetry.Eggleton, David
", ''New Zealand Book Council''. June 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2016. Eggleton later moved to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

, where he has been based since the 1980s.

Literary career

Eggleton's creative output has been diverse, including mixed media recordings involving poetry and music, several volumes of poetry, histories of New Zealand music and photography, and a large number of literary reviews. He is also an established Art Critic, writing regularly for ''Art New Zealand'', which is New Zealand's major visual arts journal. He was the editor of New Zealand's premier literary journal, ''

Landfall Landfall is the event of a storm moving over land after being over water. More broadly, and in relation to human travel, it refers to 'the first land that is reached or seen at the end of a journey across the sea or through the air, or the fact ...

'', from 2010 to 2017. He is a six-time Montana New Zealand Reviewer of the Year. Other awards have included a

Robert Burns Fellowship The Robert Burns Fellowship is a New Zealand literary residency. Established in 1958 to coincide with bicentennial celebrations of the birth of Robert Burns, it is often claimed to be New Zealand's premier literary residency. The list of past ...

from the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

in 1990, ''London Time Out''s Street Poet of the Year (1985), the 2015

Janet Frame Janet Paterson Frame (28 August 1924 – 29 January 2004) was a New Zealand author. She is internationally renowned for her work, which includes novels, short stories, poetry, juvenile fiction, and an autobiography, and received numerous award ...

Literary Trust Award for Poetry,Kiwi poet David Eggleton reveals his inspirations
" ''stuff.co.nz'', 20 September 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2016. and in 2016 the

Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

(in poetry).2016 Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement: Winners Announced
" ''Creative NZ'', 10 October 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2017. His collection of poems, ''The Conch Trumpet'' (Otago University Press, 2015), won the 2016 Ockham New Zealand Book Award for poetry. In 2017 he received the Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writers' Residency. Eggleton has also been a part of the Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival in 2017, 2019 and 2021. A video, ''For Art's Sake: Art and Politics. Performance Poet David Eggleton'', won the TV Arts Documentary prize in the 1997

Qantas Media Awards The New Zealand Newspaper Publishers’ Association awards are annual New Zealand media awards recognising excellence in the news print media. The first awards were held in 1974 giving out awards for news photography and have expanded to include ...

. In 2022 Eggleton was a guest at the Auckland Writers Festival.

Ian Wedde Ian Curtis Wedde (born 17 October 1946) is a New Zealand poet, fiction writer, critic, and art curator. Biography Born in Blenheim, New Zealand, Wedde lived in East Pakistan and England as a child before returning to New Zealand. He attended ...

(in the ''Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse'') describes Eggleton's poem ''Painting Mount Taranaki'' as "...inside its history. Its language is a confident if erratic blend of vernacular, lyric, and high demotic; this confidence allows for mobile and ironic cross-currents animating the texture and depth of the language throughout." Eggleton's poems are frequently iconoclastic or anti-establishment, using mockery to point out the shortcomings of political and social systems, and when read are delivered at a fast, fluent tempo.David Eggleton
, ''The Poetry Archive'', Retrieved 26 February 2016.

Recordings and publications

Recordings

*''Versifier'' (2002) Yellow Eye Music *''Baxter: Poems by James K. Baxter'' (2000) National Radio Music *''Seeing Voices: New Zealand Poets Reading'' (1999) Auckland University Press *''Poetry Demon'' (1993) Jayrem Records *''Wrap Up'' (1987) Partisan Productions

Video

*''The Cloud Forest'' (2002) (short film; Eggleton co-editor) *''Teleprompter'' (2001) (short film; Eggleton co-editor)

Books

*''Respirator: A Poet Laureate Collection 2019-2022'' (2023) (poetry) *''Leaps and Bounds'' – ESAW (2021) (poetry chapbook) *''Throw Net: Upena Ho'olei'' – Fernbank Studio Te Whanganui-a-Tara (2021) (poetry chapbook) *''The Wilder Years: Selected Poems'' – Otago University Press (2021) (poetry) *''Edgeland and Other Poems'' – Otago University Press (2018) (poetry) *''SNAP'' - Otakou Press (2017) – (poetry chapbook) *''The Conch Trumpet'' – Otago University Press (2015) (poetry) *''Time of the Icebergs'' – Otago University Press (2010) (poetry) *''Towards Aotearoa: A Short History of Twentieth Century New Zealand Art'' – Reed (2007) *''Into the Light: A History of New Zealand Photography'' – Craig Potton (2006) *''Fast Talker'' – Auckland University Press (2006) (poetry) *''Ready to Fly: The Story of New Zealand Rock Music'' – Craig Potton (2003) *''Seasons: Four Essays on the New Zealand Year'' – Craig Potton (2001) *''Rhyming Planet'' – Steele Roberts (2001) (poetry) *''Here on Earth'' – Craig Potton (1999) (an anthology of New Zealand landscape writing; Eggleton editor) *''Empty Orchestra'' – Auckland University Press (1995) (poetry) *''People of the Land'' – Penguin (1988) (poetry) *''After Tokyo'' – ESAW (1987) (short fiction) *''South Pacific Sunrise'' – Penguin (1986) (poetry) *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eggleton, David 20th-century New Zealand poets 20th-century New Zealand male writers 1952 births New Zealand people of Rotuman descent New Zealand people of Tongan descent New Zealand poets laureate Writers from Auckland Writers from Dunedin Living people 21st-century New Zealand poets New Zealand male poets 21st-century New Zealand male writers