Simpson, Peter
IN BRIEF
Peter Simpson is a writer, editor, critic and academic. His contribution to New Zealand literature is vast, and he has written, and edited, a wide range of books, anthologies, journals and other works of non-fiction. He has worked as the Curator and Managing Editor of Holloway Press and has contributed to several literary dictionaries. He has written reviews, articles and catalogue essays on significant New Zealand artists and writers, and he is well known as a visual arts curator.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Simpson, Peter (1942- ) is Associate Professor of English at the University of Auckland. He is a writer, editor and curator.
Peter Simpson was born in Takaka. He attended Nelson College and the University of Canterbury, where he earned an MA, Hons. He went on to study at the University of Toronto where he completed his PhD. Professionally, Simpson has been teaching since the 1960s at Massey University, University of Toronto, Carleton (Ottawa, Canada) and the University of Auckland. He was the MP for Lyttelton from 1987-1990. From 1996-1998 he directed the post-graduate New Zealand Studies programme at the University of Auckland.
Well known as an editor, Simpson was the editor of Span 1981-86. He is currently the curator and Managing Editor of Holloway Press and has edited The Given Condition: Essays in Post-colonial Literatures (SPACLALS, 1985), Pallet on the Floor and two stories by Ronald Hugh Morrieson (Penguin, 1983), Look Back Harder: Critical Writings 1935-1984 by Allen Curnow (Auckland University Press, 1987), Selected Poems by Kendrick Smithyman (AUP, 1989), Slow Passes 1978-88 by Alan Brunton (AUP, 1991), Tomarata by Kendrick Smithyman (Holloway Press, 1996), Fantastica: Thirteen Drawings by Leo Bensemann (Holloway Press, 1997), Rita: Seven Poems by Colin McCahon (Holloway Press/The Fernbank Studio, 2001), Last Poems by Kendrick Smithyman (Holloway Press, 2002) and Seven New Zealand Novellas (Reed, 2003) which was a finalist for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2004.
Simpson’s books include Ronald Hugh Morrieson (Oxford University Press, 1982) and Answering Hark: McCahon/Caselberg: Painter/Poet (Potton Publishing, 2001).
He has contributed to the Oxford History of New Zealand (OUP, 2nd ed., 1992), the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (AUP, 5 volumes, 1990 - 2000) and extensively to The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature (OUP, 1998).
A prolific writer, his articles and reviews have appeared in Landfall, Islands, Journal of New Zealand Literature, University of Toronto Quarterly, Span, Victorian Poetry, Australian Book Review, New Zealand Books, Quote Unquote, New Zealand Listener, Untold, Ariel (Canada), World Literature Written in English, Metro, Comment, Art News, Visit, Gallery and Art New Zealand. He has also written for The Press, The Evening Post, The Dominion, The Sunday Star-Times, and The New Zealand Herald.
Peter Simpson is also a well known curator. In 1996 he curated the exhibition Candles in a Dark Room: James K. Baxter and Colin McCahon for the Auckland Art Gallery and wrote the catalogue essay. In 1999 he curated the exhibition Answering Hark for the Hocken Library, University of Otago, which toured to ten venues throughout New Zealand, 1999-2002. In 2000 he curated Rita Angus & Leo Bensemann: The Cambridge Terrace Years for the Hocken Library; this exhibition was also shown at the Hawkes Bay Museum of Art and History; the City Gallery, Wellington; the Auckland Art Gallery; and the Millennium Gallery, Blenheim, 2000-2002.
Simpson has written catalogue essays for numerous artists including John Edgar, John Pule, Glenda Randerson, Allen Curnow, Colin McCahon, Don Peebles, Rita Angus and Leo Bensemann.
Peter Simpson lives in Auckland.
