New Zealand Writers

STURM, Terry

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STURM, Terry (1941– ), is editor of the OHNZLE (1991, 1998), professor of English at University of Auckland and an authority on New Zealand popular fiction.

Born in Auckland, he was educated at Auckland GS and Auckland University (MA 1963) and did postgraduate studies at Cambridge and Leeds universities (PhD Leeds 1967). He lectured at Sydney University 1967–80 before being appointed professor at Auckland in 1980. He was chairman of the Literary Fund Advisory Committee from 1982 and was involved in negotiating the transfer of its functions to the Queen Elizabeth 2 Arts Council in 1988, becoming chair of that body’s Literature Committee until resigning in 1992 in protest at proposals to restructure the committee (which was disbanded in 1995 by Creative New Zealand).

Sturm’s scholarly publications, mainly as editor, have been in Australian and New Zealand literature, and he has made a significant contribution towards placing New Zealand literature at the centre of the academic curriculum, especially through the establishment at Auckland of the first chair in New Zealand literature, with Albert Wendt as the foundation professor.

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Updated Information

Sturm's An Unsettled Spirit: The Life & Frontier Fiction of Edith Lyttleton (G B Lancaster) (Auckland University Press, 2003) is a finalist in the biography category of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2004.