Peter Alan Simpson (born 1942) is an academic, writer, literary critic, and former

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

politician of the Labour Party.

Early life

Simpson was born in

Tākaka Tākaka is a small town situated at the southeastern end of Golden Bay, at the northern end of New Zealand's South Island, located on the lower reaches of the Tākaka River. State Highway 60 runs through Takaka and follows the river valley ...

in 1942. From 1955 to 1959, he was educated at

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in Nelson, New Zealand, the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. ...

, where he was a

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

and member of the school's 1st XV

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

team in his final year. He gained a MA (Hons) from the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

, and a PhD from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...

with a 1975 thesis titled '' 'Wordsworth to Hardy: lines of relationship and continuity in nineteenth century English poetry' ''.

Member of Parliament

He represented the electorate of Lyttelton in Parliament from 1987 to

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, when he was defeated by Gail McIntosh, one of a number of losses contributing to the fall of the

Fourth Labour Government The Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand governed New Zealand from 26 July 1984 to 2 November 1990. It was the first Labour government to win a second consecutive term since the First Labour Government of 1935 to 1949. The policy agenda of ...

. Before entering parliament he was chairman of the Lyttelton electorate committee of the Labour Party.

Professional life

Simpson had been teaching English since the 1960s at various universities. He was at

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural o ...

and

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Worl ...

. In his last teaching role, he was at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn ...

as associate professor in the Department of English, and head of English, roles from which he retired in 2008. He is the director of

Holloway Press Holloway Press was established at the University of Auckland in the Library of the Tamaki Campus in 1994. Poet Alan Loney Alan Perress Loney is a writer, poet, editor, publisher and letterpress printer. His work has been published by University ...

, set up at the University of Auckland in 1994 and named after Ron Holloway (1909–2003), a renowned university printer and publisher. In 2020, Simpson was conferred an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

degree by the University of Canterbury.

Selected works

* ''Ronald Hugh Morrieson'' (Oxford University Press, 1982) * ''Candles in a Dark Room: James K. Baxter and Colin McCahon'' (Auckland Art Gallery, 1996) * ''Colin McCahon: The Titirangi Years, 1953–1959'' (Auckland University Press, 2007) * ''Fantastica: The World of Leo Bensemann'' (Auckland University Press, 2011) * ''Bloomsbury South: The Arts in Christchurch 1933–1953'' (Auckland University Press, 2016) * ''Colin McCahon: Is this the Promised Land? Vol. 2 1960-1987'' (Auckland University Press, 2020)

Private life

Simpson lives in Auckland. He is married with two children.

References

Living people New Zealand Labour Party MPs 1942 births People educated at Nelson College University of Auckland faculty University of Canterbury alumni University of Toronto alumni New Zealand MPs for Christchurch electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Unsuccessful candidates in the 1990 New Zealand general election {{NewZealand-writer-stub