Canterbury and Kaikoura
Below are the literary figures, literary locations and literary quotes from the Canterbury and Kaikoura region of the Aotearoa New Zealand Literary Map.
Literary Figures
Oxford: Paul Millar 1962
North Canterbury: Ruth France 1913-1968
Rangiora: Monte Holcroft 1902-1994
Christchurch: Antony Alpers 1919-1996, Tusiata Avia 1966, Edmund Bohan 1935, Alan Brunton 1946-2002, Rachel Bush 1941, James Courage 1905-1963, D'Arcy Cresswell 1896-1960, Geoff Cush 1956, Kate De Goldi 1959, Peggy Dunstan 1920, Esther Glen 1881-1940, Anthony Holcroft 1932, David Howard 1959, Keri Hulme 1947
Mike Johnson 1947, Gary Langford 1947, Owen Leeming 1930, Ngaio Marsh 1895-1982, OE Middleton 1925, John Mulgan 1911-1945, John O'Connor 1949, Gordon Ogilvie 1934, Peter Olds 1944, Emily Perkins 1970, Sarah Quigley 1967, Paddy Richardson 1950, Joan Rosier-Jones 1940, Gordon Slatter 1922, Barry Southam 1940, Mary Stanley 1919-1980, Essie Summers 1912, Penelope Todd 1958, Denys Trussell 1946, Tom Weston 1958
Lyttelton: WP Reeves 1857-1932
Banks Peninsula: Harvey McQueen 1934
Rakaia Gorge: Heretaunga Pat Baker 1920-1988, Jessie Mackay 1864-1938
Southbridge: Basil Dowling 1910-2000
Ashburton: David Elliott 1952, Annamarie Jagose 1965
Geraldine: Gary Henderson
Timaru: Allen Curnow 1911-2001, Rangi Faith 1949, John Graham 1922, Elspeth Sandys 1940, Helen Shaw 1913-1985
Fairlie: Laurence Fearnley 1963, Rachel McAlpine 1940
Kurow: AP Gaskell
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Literary Locations
Christchurch: Ngaio Marsh Theatre, Dame Ngaio Marsh House, Writers Trail (plaques)
Mt Peel: Ngaio Marsh's grave
Literary Fellowships/Institutions
Christchurch: Canterbury University Writer's Fellowship
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Literary Quotes
''Not I, some child, born in a marvellous year
will learn the trick of standing upright here.'
Allen Curnow 'The skeleton of the great moa in the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch'.
'I was struck almost breathless by the wonderful mountain that burst on my sight. The effect was startling.
It rose towering in a massy parallelogram, disclosed from top to bottom in the cloudless sky, far above all the others No one can mistake it. If a person says he thinks he has seen Mount Cook, you may be quite sure that he has not seen it. The moment it comes into sight the exclamation is, 'That is Mount Cook!' not 'That must be Mount Cook!' There is no possibility of mistake. I do not think that any human being will ever reach its top.'
Samuel Butler A First Year in Canterbury Settlement
'Looking down, he saw the land laid before him in natural divisions. On one hand was the town, its life circumscribed by the stream and its fertile coastal strip undulating to the port hills and the sea. On the other, to the west, stretched the plain of Canterbury, a sheet of waving tussock. Beyond the plain rose the longitudinal spine of mountains, snow-capped, that strode the length of the horizon, unexplored and terrifying.'
James McNeish Mackenzie
'I do not dream of Sussex downs
or quaint old England's
quaint old towns
I think of what may yet be seen
in Johnsonville or Geraldine.'
Denis Glover 'Home Thoughts'
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