Glenn Morton Colquhoun (born 1964) is a New Zealand poet and

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

Life

Colquhoun was born in

Papakura Papakura is a suburb of South Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Pahurehure Inlet, approximately south of the Auckland CBD, Auckland City Centre. It is under the authority of the Auckland Council. The ar ...

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, and practises medicine on the

Kāpiti Coast Kapiti or Kāpiti may refer to: * Kapiti (New Zealand electorate), a former Parliamentary electorate *Kāpiti Coast District, a local government district *Kapiti Island * Kapiti Coast Airport * Kāpiti College *Kāpiti Expressway * Kapiti Fine Food ...

. He lives in Waikawa Beach. Colquhoun's first book of poems, ''The Art of Walking Upright'', was published in 1999. It has been said the book is a love letter to the people of Te Tii, the Northland town where he was living at that time. ''An Explanation of Poetry to My Father'' was published and written in 2001. Written in the middle of his work on ''Playing God'', the book was a distraction for Colquhoun from that work. The poems are an explanation of why the son of a builder would go and write poetry. ''Playing God'', Colquhuoun’s third book, was published in 2002 to critical acclaim and popular support. It has sold over 10,000 copies in New Zealand and in 2007 was published in the United Kingdom. ''How We Fell'' (2006) is a collection of love poems written to Colquhoun’s ex-wife. It is the candid story of a ten-year relationship. ''North South'' (illustrated by

Nigel Brown ''For the British chairman, see Nigel Brown.'' Nigel Roderick Brown (born 1949) is a New Zealand painter living in Dunedin, New Zealand. Early years Born in Invercargill in 1949, Brown grew up in Tauranga and was fortunate to have the est ...

, 2009), is a sequence of poems entwining aspects of

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with aspects of

Māori mythology Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the ...

. In 2010, Colquhoun was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to research medical storytelling programmes. In October 2012, he wanted to participate in the

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poetry exchange at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany.

Awards

Colquhoun's first book, ''The Art of Walking Upright'', won the Montana New Zealand Book Awards Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry. ''Playing God'' was published in December 2002. The work received the Montana Award for Poetry and the Montana Readers' Choice Award at the 2003 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. He was the first poet to be awarded the Readers' Choice Award in a readers' vote. In October 2006, ''Playing God'' went platinum with Booksellers New Zealand, making its way onto their premier New Zealand bestsellers list. It is the only poetry collection in New Zealand to make it to platinum, meaning more than 5,000 copies of the book have been sold. Colquhoun was the convenor of the 2004 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Also in 2004, he received the country’s largest literary award, the Prize in Modern Letters, worth $60,000.

Published poetry

"WHEN I AM IN DOUBT"; "TODAY I DO NOT WANT TO BE A DOCTOR"; "IN OTHER WORDS"; "TO THE GIRL WHO STOOD BESIDE ME AT THE CHECK-OUT COUNTER OF WHITCOULL'S BOOKSTORE IN HAMILTON ON TUESDAY"; "AN EXPLANATION OF POETRY TO MY FATHER"; "A MINI MENTAL STATUS EXAMINATION"; "A HISTORY"; "THE OTHER SIDE OF A RIVER", ''Beyond the Pale''
* * * reissued 2007 * *

Other works

* (essays and poems) *''Uncle Glenn and Me'', 1999 (children’s picturebook) * (children’s picturebook) * (children’s picturebook) * (essay)

References

External links

Glenn's own website

Glenn's books
at Steele Roberts Aotearoa

Distinguished Alumni Award
at the University of Auckland {{DEFAULTSORT:Colquhoun, Glenn 1964 births Living people New Zealand general practitioners New Zealand poets New Zealand male poets University of Auckland alumni People from Papakura