Fleur Adcock
Encyclopedia
Kareen Fleur Adcock CNZM
, OBE
(born 10 February 1934 in New Zealand
) is a poet and an editor of English and Northern Irish ancestry, who has lived much of her life in England.
, but spent the years between 1939 and 1947 in England. Her sister is the novelist Marilyn Duckworth
. She studied Classics
at the Victoria University of Wellington
, graduating with a M.A.
. She worked as an assistant lecturer and later an assistant librarian at the University of Otago
in Dunedin
until 1962. She was married to two famous New Zealand literary personalities. In 1952 she married Alistair Campbell
, (divorced 1958). Then in 1962 she married Barry Crump
, divorcing in 1963.
In 1963, Adcock returned to England and took up a post as an assistant librarian at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
in London until 1979. Since then she has been a freelance writer, living in East Finchley
, north London. She has held several literary fellowships, including the Northern Arts Literary Fellowship in Newcastle upon Tyne and Durham in 1979-81.
Adcock's poetry is typically concerned with themes of place, human relationships and everyday activities, but frequently with a dark twist given to the mundane events she writes about. Formerly, her early work was influenced by her training as a classicist but her more recent work is looser in structure and more concerned with the world of the unconscious mind.
New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order established in 1996 "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."The order includes five...
, OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 10 February 1934 in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
) is a poet and an editor of English and Northern Irish ancestry, who has lived much of her life in England.
Life and career
Adcock was born in AucklandAuckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, but spent the years between 1939 and 1947 in England. Her sister is the novelist Marilyn Duckworth
Marilyn Duckworth
Marilyn Duckworth OBE is a novelist, poet and short story writer. She has published sixteen novels, one novella, a collection of short stories and a collection of poetry. She has also written for television and radio....
. She studied Classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
at the Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...
, graduating with a M.A.
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
. She worked as an assistant lecturer and later an assistant librarian at the University of Otago
University of Otago
The University of Otago in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 22,000 students enrolled during 2010.The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality and in New Zealand is second only to the University of Auckland in the number of A rated academic researchers it...
in Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
until 1962. She was married to two famous New Zealand literary personalities. In 1952 she married Alistair Campbell
Alistair Campbell (poet)
Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, ONZM was a New Zealand poet, playwright, and novelist. His father was a New Zealand Scot and his mother a Cook Island Maori from Penrhyn Island.-Biography:...
, (divorced 1958). Then in 1962 she married Barry Crump
Barry Crump
Barry John Crump MBE was a New Zealand author of semi-autobiographical comic novels based on his image as a rugged outdoors man...
, divorcing in 1963.
In 1963, Adcock returned to England and took up a post as an assistant librarian at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
in London until 1979. Since then she has been a freelance writer, living in East Finchley
East Finchley
East Finchley is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, in north London, and situated north-west of Charing Cross. Geographically it is somewhat separate from the rest of Finchley, with North Finchley and West Finchley to the north, and Finchley Central to the west.- History :The land on which...
, north London. She has held several literary fellowships, including the Northern Arts Literary Fellowship in Newcastle upon Tyne and Durham in 1979-81.
Adcock's poetry is typically concerned with themes of place, human relationships and everyday activities, but frequently with a dark twist given to the mundane events she writes about. Formerly, her early work was influenced by her training as a classicist but her more recent work is looser in structure and more concerned with the world of the unconscious mind.
Poetry collections
- 1964: Eye of the Hurricane, Wellington: Reed
- 1967: Tigers, London: Oxford University Press
- 1971: High Tide in the Garden, London: Oxford University Press
- 1974: The Scenic Route, London and New York: Oxford University Press
- 1979: The Inner Harbour, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
- 1979: Below Loughrigg, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe Books
- 1983: Selected Poems, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
- 1986: Hotspur: a ballad, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe Books ISBN 978-1-85224-001-1
- 1986: The Incident Book, Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press
- 1988: Meeting the Comet, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe Books
- 1991: Time-zones, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
- 1991: Selected Poems, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
- 1993: Mary Magdalene and the Birds: Mezzo-sporano and Clarinet, by Dorothy BuchananDorothy Quita Buchanan-Life:Buchanan was born in Christchurch, the second of six daughters in a musical family, and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Canterbury University in 1967 and a teaching degree from Christchurch Teachers College in 1975....
, with words by Fleur Adcock, Wellington: Waiteata Press - 1993: Five Modern Poets: Fleur Adcock, U.A. Fanthorpe, Tony HarrisonTony HarrisonTony Harrison is an English poet and playwright. He is noted for controversial works such as the poem V and Fram, as well as his versions of ancient Greek tragedies, including the Oresteia and Hecuba...
, Anne StevensonAnne StevensonAnne Stevenson is an American-British poet and writer.-Life:Stevenson's parents Louise Destler Stevenson and C.L. Stevenson met at a Cincinnati High School. They were living in Cambridge, England, where Charles was studying philosophy under I. A. Richards and Wittgenstein, when their first...
, Derek WalcottDerek WalcottDerek Alton Walcott, OBE OCC is a Saint Lucian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2011 for White Egrets. His works include the Homeric epic Omeros...
, Edited by Barbara Bleiman, Harlow, England: Longman - 1997: Looking Back, Oxford and Auckland: Oxford University Press
- 2000: Poems 1960-2000, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books ISBN 978-1-85224-530-6
- 2004: Contributor, The 2nd Wellington International Poetry Festival Anthology, Edited and compiled by Mark PirieMark PirieMark Pirie is a New Zealand poet, writer, literary critic, anthologist, publisher, and editor. He is best known for his Generation X New Zealand anthology The NeXt Wave, which included an 8,000 word introduction , the literary journals JAAM and Broadsheet, a book cover photo series of tributes to...
, Ron Riddell and Saray Torres. Wellington: HeadworX - 2010: Dragon Talk, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe Books ISBN 978-1-85224-878-9
Edited or translated
- 1982: Editor, Oxford Book of Contemporary New Zealand Poetry, Auckland: Oxford University Press
- 1983: Translator, The Virgin and the Nightingale: Medieval Latin poems, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe Books, ISBN 978-0-906427-55-2
- 1987: Editor, Faber Book of 20th Century Women's Poetry, London and Boston: Faber and Faber
- 1989: Translator, Orient Express: Poems. Grete Tartler, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
- 1992: Translator, Letters from Darkness: Poems, Daniela Crasnaru, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- 1994: Translator and editor, Hugh Primas and the Archpoet, Cambridge, England, and New York: Cambridge University Press
- 1995: Editor (with Jacqueline Simms), The Oxford Book of Creatures, verse and prose anthology, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Awards and honours
- 1961: Festival of Wellington Poetry Award
- 1964: New Zealand State Literary Fund Award
- 1968: Buckland Award (New Zealand)
- 1968: Jessie Mackay Prize (New Zealand)
- 1972: Jessie Mackay Prize (New Zealand)
- 1976: Cholmondeley AwardCholmondeley AwardThe Cholmondeley Award is an annual award for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the late Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966...
(United Kingdom) - 1979: Buckland Award (New Zealand)
- 1984: New Zealand National Book Award
- 1988: Arts Council Writers' Award (United Kingdom)
- 1996: Officer of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
for her contribution to New Zealand literatureNew Zealand literatureNew Zealand literature is essentially literature in English that is either written by New Zealanders, or migrants, dealing with New Zealand themes or places and is primarily a 20th Century creation... - 2006: Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry (United Kingdom)
- 2008: Companion of the New Zealand Order of MeritNew Zealand Order of MeritThe New Zealand Order of Merit is an order established in 1996 "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."The order includes five...
, for services to literature.
External links
- Profile and analysis, Emory University
- "Sonnets - Fleur Adcock". BBC Radio 4 archive. (Audio 5 mins) Friday 30 May 2003
- Adcock discussing her Selected Poems with Andrew MotionAndrew MotionSir Andrew Motion, FRSL is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.- Life and career :...
. British Library recording. 14-07-1983 (1 hr, audio) - Poetry Archive profile with poems written and audio
- Portrait at the National Portrait Gallery
- Review by Herbert Lomas of Poems 1960-2000 by Adcock in Ambit No 161 - 2000
- Interview with Adcock "Final touch" The Guardian 29 July 2000
- Guardian book review of Dragon Talk 15 May 2010