Barbara Lillias Romaine Anderson, Lady Anderson (, 14 April 1926 – 24 March 2013) was a New Zealand fiction writer who became internationally recognised and a best-selling author after her first book was published in her sixties.

Career

Born Barbara Lillias Romaine Wright in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, she was educated at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate ...

where she graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in 1947. In 1951, she married Neil Anderson, a

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...

officer later to become Chief of New Zealand Defence Staff. They had two sons. After a career as a medical technologist and as a teacher, she went back to university in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

, New Zealand, where she graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree from the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kno ...

in 1984. Anderson took

Bill Manhire William Manhire (born 27 December 1946) is a New Zealand poet, short story writer, emeritus professor, and New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate (1997–1998). He founded New Zealand's first creative writing course at Victoria University of Well ...

's creative writing course at Victoria University in 1983, after which she began her writing career. Her short stories were published in journals and magazines such as ''Landfall'', ''Sport'' and the '' New Zealand Listener''. Her first book was a collection of short stories, ''I Think We Should Go Into the Jungle''. Her third book, the novel ''Portrait of the Artist's Wife'' (1992), received first prize at the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards in 1992. It was a bestseller and received critical acclaim in New Zealand and overseas. Her husband was knighted in 1982, and she was subsequently styled Lady Anderson. In 2009 she was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Literature Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...

from the

, and in 2011 she received the prestigious Arts Foundation Icon Award. She died in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

on 24 March 2013.NZ author Barbara Anderson dies , 3news.co.nz
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Works

* ''I Think We Should Go Into the Jungle : Short Stories''. Wellington : Victoria University Press, 1989; London: Secker & Warburg, 1993. * ''Girls' High''. Wellington : Victoria University Press, 1990, 1999; London: Secker & Warburg, 1991. * ''Portrait of the Artist's Wife''. Wellington : Victoria University Press, 1992; London: Secker & Warburg, 1992; New York: Norton, 1993; London: Minerva, 1993. * ''All the Nice Girls''. Wellington : Victoria University Press, 1993, 1999; London: Cape, 1994; London: Vintage, 1995. * ''The House Guest''. Wellington : Victoria University Press, 1995; London: Cape, 1995; London: Vintage, 1997. * ''Proud Garments''. Wellington : Victoria University Press, 1996. * ''The Peacocks : and Other Stories''. Wellington : Victoria University Press, 1997. * ''Glorious things, and other stories''. London: Cape, 1999. * ''Long Hot Summer''. Wellington: Victoria University Press, 1999; London: Cape, 2000. * ''The Swing Around''. Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2001. * ''Getting There: An Autobiography'', 2008

References

External links

Biography and links
on Read NZ Te Pou Muramura {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Barbara 1926 births 2013 deaths New Zealand women novelists University of Otago alumni Victoria University of Wellington alumni People from Hastings, New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand novelists 20th-century New Zealand women writers

Career

Works

See also

References

External links