Christian Karlson "Karl" Stead (born 17 October 1932) is a New Zealand writer whose works include novels, poetry, short stories, and literary criticism. He is one of New Zealand's most well-known and internationally celebrated writers.

Early life and education

Stead was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1932. He attended Mount Albert Grammar School. He has said that growing up he rarely read New Zealand writers: "I read a few New Zealand writers at school but mainly it was a British education so one read British writers really". At this time he and his wife were neighbours with short-story writer Frank Sargeson. Writer Janet Frame was living in a hut in Sargeson's garden, having recently been discharged after nine years in a mental hospital. Frame later wrote about this time in her memoir An Angel at My Table, and Stead covered the same period in his autobiographical novel All Visitors Ashore (1984).

Academic and literary career

thumb|Stead (left) at the [[1981 South Africa rugby union tour of New Zealand and the United States|1981 protest against Springboks in Hamilton]]

Stead completed his PhD at the University of Bristol in 1961. In consequence his editorship of the Faber Book of Contemporary South Pacific Stories was boycotted by some writers, including Keri Hulme, although Stead denied accusations of racism or being anti-Māori. Stead was active in protests against the 1981 protest against Springboks and was part of the crowd that occupied the field at a game in Hamilton causing its cancellation.

Stead retired from his position as the Professor of English at the University of Auckland in 1986 to write full time, after the success of his novel All Visitors Ashore (1984). In the following two decades he wrote a string of internationally successful novels, and twice won the fiction section of the New Zealand Book Awards with All Visitors Ashore and The Singing Whakapapa (1994).

Stead has continued to write and receive international accolades well into his seventies and eighties. In 2010 he won the inaugural Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award for his short story "Last Season's Man". The short story was subject to some controversy, with literary commentator Fergus Barrowman suggesting that it appeared to be a "revenge fantasy" about Stead's rivalry with younger writer Nigel Cox, who had criticised Stead in a 1994 essay. The story was reported on by UK satirical magazine Private Eye. Stead in response has said that the story was a work of fiction.

Stead was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to New Zealand literature, in the 1985 New Year Honours, and was admitted into the highest civilian honour New Zealand can bestow, the Order of New Zealand in the 2007 Special Honours.

In August 2015, Stead was named the New Zealand Poet Laureate for 2015 to 2017. To celebrate the conclusion of Stead's term as Poet Laureate, the Alexander Turnbull Library published a signed, limited edition book of his work called In the Mirror, and Dancing. The little volume of poems was hand-pressed by Brendan O'Brien and illustrated with line sketches by New Zealand expatriate artist Douglas MacDiarmid. The book was launched on 8 August 2017 in Wellington, with the assistance of Gregory O'Brien.

Stead's memoirs are published in three volumes: South-West of Eden: A Memoir, 1932–1956 (2010), You Have a Lot To Lose: A Memoir, 1956-1986 (2020) and What You Made of It: A memoir, 1987–2020 (2021).

Personal life

Stead was married to his wife Kay for nearly 70 years; she died in 2023. They had three children together, including Charlotte Grimshaw (writer) and Oliver Stead (curator at the Alexander Turnbull Library). Oliver Stead died in 2024.

List of awards and honours

  • 1955 Poetry Awards Incorporated prize (U.S.A.)
  • 1972 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship
  • 1984 Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to New Zealand literature
  • 2007 Member of the Order of New Zealand
  • 2009 Montana Prize (for Collected Poems 1951–2006)
  • 2009 Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement
  • 2010 Sunday Times Short Story Award (UK) (for "Last Season's Man")
  • 2011 Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement

New Zealand Book Awards

  • 1976 Quesada (Poetry)
  • 1985 All Visitors Ashore (Fiction, shared with Marilyn Duckworth)
  • 1995 The Singing Whakapapa (Fiction)

Selected works

Poetry

  • Whether the Will is Free (1964)
  • Paris: A poem (1984)
  • In the Mirror, and Dancing (2017)

Essays and academic work

  • The New Poetic (1964)

See also

  • New Zealand literature
  • C.K. Stead at the New Zealand Electronic Text Collection archive
  • C.K. Stead, profile on Read NZ website
  • Interview with C.K. Stead for Cultural Icons project. Video and audio
  • 1986 Profile of C.K. Stead on the Kaleidoscope television series
  • C.K. Stead Collection at the Alexander Turnbull Library

References