25 June 2025 marks a hundred years since the birth of one of New Zealand's leading poets - Alistair Te Ariki Campbell. He was born in Rarotonga to a Rarotongan mother and a Pākehā New Zealander father. His mother died from tuberculosis in 1932, and his father soon after in 1933. He and his older siblings then moved to New Zealand.
Campbell grew up in an orphanage in Dunedin, and later attended Otago Boys High School, the University of Otago, where he was friends with James K. Baxter. He attended Victoria University of Wellington. He lived most of his life in Wellington, joining the Wellington Group of writers.
He married writer Fleur Adcock. There's a lovely photo of them and their son Gregory in the Hocken Collection. After they divorced, he married Meg Andersen (poet and actor).
In his professional life he was an editor of the School Journal for 17 years (1955-1972), president of the New Zealand branch of PEN-International, and a senior editor for the New Zealand Council of Educational Research from 1972 to 1987.
His poem The Return was set to music by Douglas Lilburn.
Alistair was the author of 20 collections of poems, as well as novels, plays and an autobiography. His career spanned sixty years.
He received numerous honours, and was awarded the Order of New Zealand Merit in 2005.
Alistair Te Ariki Campbell died on 16th August 2009, aged 84.
Find more information
- Find titles by Alistair Te Ariki Campbell in the library
- Mark Williams. 'Campbell, Alistair Te Ariki', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 2021. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/6c7/campbell-alistair-te-ariki (accessed 23 June 2025).
- Alistair Te Ariki Campbell Writer's file Read NZ Te Pou Muramura
- Alistair Te Ariki Campbell website, including poems and biographical information
- Entries in the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre
- Biography at the New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre
- Listen to Gallipoli Peninsula from the New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre [850KB MP3]
- Find articles and photos in DigitalNZ
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