Bill Manhire CNZM
Manhire in 2012
Born	(1946-12-27)27 December 1946 (age 78) Invercargill, New Zealand
Occupation	Poet, short story writer,emeritus professor
Nationality	New Zealander
Alma mater	University of Otago University College London
Spouse	Marion McLeod
Children	2

William ManhireCNZM (born 27 December 1946) is a New Zealand poet, short story writer,emeritus professor, and New Zealand's inauguralPoet Laureate (1997–1998). He founded New Zealand's first creative writing course atVictoria University of Wellington in 1975, founded theInternational Institute of Modern Letters in 2001, and has been a strong promoter of New Zealand literature and poetry throughout his career. Many of New Zealand's leading writers graduated from his courses at Victoria.^[1] He has received many notable awards including aPrime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2007 and anArts Foundation Icon Award in 2018.

TheOxford Companion to New Zealand Literature (2006) states that he is "recognised as among the two or three finest New Zealand poets of his generation",^[2] and literary criticPeter Simpson has observed that Manhire has "probably done more to widen the audience for poetry in New Zealand than any other individual".^[3]

Manhire was born inInvercargill. His mother was from Scotland with a degree in science, and his father was a publican; they had met and married during World War II, and his mother sailed to New Zealand on a ship ofwar brides on Valentine's Day in 1946.^[4][5] In his memoirUnder the Influence (2003), he described growing up in different small town South Island pubs.^[6] He attendedOtago Boys' High School, and later theUniversity of Otago inDunedin where he received his B.A. in 1967, his M.A. (with honours) in 1968, and his M.Litt. in 1970. He went on to study Norsesagas atUniversity College London (1970–73, M.Phil.).^[7][8]

As a young writer, Manhire sent some poetry toCharles Brasch; of this work, Manhire later said, "I can't remember the exact contents, but I think they had lines like 'I stalk the streets of the midnight city' and were full of soiled sheets and neon and terrible things like that". He said he was "enormously encouraged" by Brasch's response, which encouraged him to keep trying and to take himself seriously as a writer. Other writers Manhire met in Dunedin includedIain Lonie,Trevor Reeves andJames K. Baxter.^[4]

In the 1960s, while still an undergraduate at the University of Otago, Manhire had his first poems published in New Zealand journals,^[8] including notably the journalLandfall, then edited byRobin Dudding.^[4] While studying in London in the early 1970s he had poems published in British magazines.^[8] His first book was a poem,Malady, published in 1970. It consisted of just four words ("malady", "melody" and "my lady") arranged in patterns on the page, accompanied by drawings by artistRalph Hotere, who had met Manhire in Dunedin while he was theFrances Hodgkins Fellow.^[4][8] Manhire's second book,The Elaboration (1972), was also a collaboration with Hotere, and was published byCharles Brasch andJanet Paul.^[4] Around this time, and while living in London, Manhire and fellow poetKevin Cunningham set up the Amphedesma Press to publish their own and their friends' work, including poetry books byIan Wedde andBob Orr.^[4][9]

In 1973, after returning to New Zealand, Manhire began lecturing in the English department ofVictoria University of Wellington, where he founded New Zealand's first creative writing course in 1975.^[2][8][10] His creative writing course, which he taught for more than 25 years, had a major influence on New Zealand literature, with many well-known New Zealand writers having graduated, includingElizabeth Knox,Barbara Anderson andJenny Bornholdt.^[2][11][12]Mutes & Earthquakes (1997) was an anthology of works by his former students; the introduction by Manhire begins with two pieces of advice: "1. Write what you know, and / 2. Write what you don't know".^[2] From 2001 to 2013 he was the inaugural and founding director of theInternational Institute of Modern Letters, which offers an MA and Ph.D. in creative writing, as well as a range of specialised undergraduate workshops.^[10] Students of the Institute have includedEleanor Catton,Catherine Chidgey andHinemoana Baker. In 2016 the institute's building was named the Bill Manhire House in recognition of his contribution to the university and to New Zealand literature.^[10] His successorDamien Wilkins said on the occasion that Manhire's name "is synonymous with creative writing at Victoria".^[13]

Manhire has published a number of poetry collections, including notably hisCollected Poems (2001). His poetry is known for word-play, experimentation and his ironic and whimsical sense of humour.^[2][8] CriticIain Sharp writes that Manhire's reputation "rests on a solid, seriously intentioned body of work, notable for its oblique lyricism and sense of wonder at the strangeness of both life and language".^[8] After his fifth book of poetry,Good Looks (1982), Manhire for a time switched to writing prose, publishingThe Brain of Katherine Mansfield (1988), a book in the style of theChoose Your Own Adventure series with illustrations byGregory O'Brien, andThe New Land (1990), a collection of satirical short stories.^[8] In 1986 he wrote a critical study of fellow New Zealand writerMaurice Gee.^[2]

In 1998, Manhire went toAntarctica for several weeks with poetChris Orsman and painterNigel Brown, as part of theArtists to Antarctica programme run byAntarctica New Zealand.^[14][15] The experience inspired a number of poems which formed the basis of his collectionWhat to Call Your Child (1999), as well as a subsequent anthology of writing about Antarctica calledThe Wide White Page: Writers Imagine Antarctica (2004) which he edited and introduced.^[16] For the 25th anniversary of theErebus air disaster in 2004, Manhire wrote the poem "Erebus Voices", which was read bySir Edmund Hillary at the commemorative service atScott Base,Antarctica.^[17]

Throughout his career Manhire has been a significant promoter of New Zealand poetry and other local writing, acting as editor of several compilations of New Zealand works, includingNZ Listener Short Stories (1977),Some Other Country: New Zealand's Best Short Stories (with his wifeMarion McLeod, 1984, with updated editions published in 1992, 1997 and 2007) andSix by Six: Short Stories by New Zealand's Best Writers (1989).^[2] His collection of New Zealand poetry,100 New Zealand Poems (1993), proved particularly popular, and was subsequently expanded to become121 New Zealand Poems (2005).^[3] He was a founding publisher of the onlineBest New Zealand Poems series, which began in 2000.^[18] For many years he presented a poetry segment on theKim Hill Show onRadio New Zealand.^[19] To mark his 60th birthday in 2006, Victoria University Press andSport published the limited editionManhire at 60: A Book for Bill. The book featured essays, poems, stories and other written work from over 40 writers who had been inspired by Manhire.^[20][21]

Manhire has regularly worked collaboratively with other artists and creators during his career, including with the artistRalph Hotere, physicistPaul Callaghan, composerNorman Meehan and singerHannah Griffin. His work with Meehan and Griffin has resulted in a range of music publications with lyrics or words by Manhire, includingBuddhist Rain (2010) andThese Rough Notes (2012).^[22][23][24]

Manhire has received a number of New Zealand's most prestigious literary awards and fellowships, including theKatherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship in 2004, anArts Foundation Laureate Award in 2004 and the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2007.^[25][26] He received theLilian Ida Smith Award in 1987 for fiction and in 1989 for poetry.^[27] He was appointed the firstNew Zealand Poet Laureate in 1996,^[28] and from January to May 1999 was the Fulbright visiting professor in New Zealand studies atGeorgetown University.^[29]

In the2005 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed aCompanion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature,^[30] and that same year received an honorary doctorate of literature from theUniversity of Otago.^[25] In 2010 he was appointed a fellow of theRoyal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi.^[31] In 2015 he was the UNESCO visiting professor of creative writing at theUniversity of East Anglia.^[32] In 2018, theArts Foundation of New Zealand bestowed on him the Icon Award, an award recognising New Zealand's greatest artists, which is limited to 20 living recipients.^[33][34] In 2021 he received an honorary doctorate of literature fromUniversity College London.^[35]

His work has won thePoetry Prize at theNew Zealand Book Awards six times:^[36]

• 1978:How to Take Your Clothes Off at the Picnic
• 1985:Zoetropes
• 1992:Milky Way Bar
• 1994:100 New Zealand Poems (as editor)
• 1996:My Sunshine
• 2006:Lifted

• Lynn Jenner – New Zealand poet and essayist^[37]
• Laurence Fearnley – New Zealand writer (born 1963)^[38]

He is married to journalist Marion McLeod, and has two children, Vanessa andToby, who are both journalists and writers.^[39]

• New Zealand literature

• "Pavlova and Wrists: The Poetry of Bill Manhire", by Peter Crisp,Islands 24 (Auckland), November 1978.
• "The Poetry of Bill Manhire", Hugh Lauder, inLandfall (Christchurch), September 1983.
• "Joker: Playing Poetry in the Eighties: Manhire, Curnow, Stead, Horrocks", byMichele Leggott, inWorld Literature Written in English (Singapore), 23(1), winter 1984.
• "Writing through the Margins: Sharon Thesen's and Bill Manhire's Apparently Lyrical Poetry" by Douglas Barbour, inAustralian and New Zealand Studies in Canada (Prince George, British Columbia, Canada), 4, Fall 1990.
• "The Old Man's Example: Manhire in the Seventies" byJohn Newton, inOpening the Book, edited by Mark Williams and Michele Leggott, Auckland,Auckland University Press, 1995.
• Elaborations: a selective annotated bibliography of reviews and commentaries on the poetry and short stories of Bill Manhire from 1967 to 2002, by Laurinda Elizabeth Thomas, Victoria University of Wellington, 2003.
• Manhire at 60: A Book For Bill, edited byFergus Barrowman andDamien Wilkins, Wellington, Victoria University Press andSport, 2006.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toBill Manhire.

• Bill Manhire onTwitter
• Read NZ Te Pou Muramura profile
• New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre profile
• Arts Foundation of New Zealand profile
• International Institute of Modern Letters
• Hypertext edition ofThe Brain of Katherine Mansfield (1988), illustrated byGregory O'Brien and digitised by Richard Easther and Jolisa Gracewood in 1997
• "Huia" by Bill Manhire, featured poem inThe Guardian

• 1946 births
• Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit
• People educated at Otago Boys' High School
• Living people
• 20th-century New Zealand poets
• 20th-century New Zealand male writers
• New Zealand poets laureate
• New Zealand male poets
• People from Invercargill
• Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington
• 21st-century New Zealand poets
• 21st-century New Zealand male writers
• University of Otago alumni
• Alumni of University College London

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