The Government has paid tribute to one of New Zealand’s finest writers, Barbara Anderson, who died in Auckland yesterday.
Anderson, a late starter to writing, was 86.
“Barbara Anderson was one of our finest writers, and also one of the most inspiring, becoming an internationally successful author in her sixties,” Arts Minister Chris Finlayson said.
“After completing Bill Manhire’s creative writing degree at Victoria University, she went on to write acclaimed short stories, novels, and autobiography.”
“In 2011 she received the Arts Foundation’s Icon Award, its highest honour recognising senior artists for their lifetime’s work, following the award of an honorary doctorate by Otago University in 2008.
“She made a significant contribution to New Zealand literary culture and to Wellington’s writing community, and will be greatly missed.”
“I offer my condolences to her family and friends.”
Anderson’s publisher Fergus Barrowman said she would be remembered for her outlook on New Zealand life.
“No one else has captured the social texture of New Zealand with the same vivacity and wit as Barbara,” Barrowman, of Victoria University Press, told Radio New Zealand.
“One of the great things about her was that she could be comic and highly entertaining while never losing sight of the serious undercurrents in her fiction.”
Anderson novels included Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, The House Guest, Proud Garments and Girls’ High.
She wrote her first book aged 63 after attending
