Fleur Adcock facts for kids

Fleur Adcock (born 10 February 1934 – died 11 October 2024) was a famous poet and editor from New Zealand. She spent most of her life living in England.

Fleur Adcock's poems are often found in collections of New Zealand poetry. She received special awards for her writing, like an OBE in 1996 and being named a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2008. These awards recognized her important contributions to literature.

Early Life and Education

Fleur Adcock was born in Papakura, New Zealand. Her birth name was Kareen Fleur Adcock, but she was always known as Fleur. She officially changed her name to Fleur Adcock in 1982.

From 1939 to 1947, she lived in England. Later, she studied Classics (ancient Greek and Roman studies) at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. She earned her first degree in 1954 and a master's degree in 1956.

Her Career as a Writer

Fleur Adcock started her career working in libraries. From 1958 to 1962, she was a librarian and assistant lecturer at the University of Otago in Dunedin. She also worked at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington from 1962 to 1963.

In 1963, she moved back to England. There, she worked as a librarian at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. She had already started publishing poems in New Zealand magazines.

Her first book of poems, The Eye of the Hurricane, came out in New Zealand in 1964. Her first collection published in Britain was Tigers in 1967.

In 1976, Fleur Adcock became a full-time writer. She held special writing positions at colleges and universities. For example, she was a Creative Writing Fellow at Charlotte Mason College from 1977 to 1978. She also held a Literary Fellowship at Newcastle and Durham universities from 1979 to 1981.

From 1980, she worked as a freelance writer. She lived in north London and also translated works and commented on poetry for the BBC.

Themes in Her Poetry

Fleur Adcock's poems often explored themes like places, human relationships, and everyday life. She often added a surprising or dark twist to ordinary events. Her early poems were influenced by her studies in classics. Later, her writing became more free and explored the unconscious mind.

Many of her poems show a feeling of being an "outsider." They also express a mixed sense of identity. This came from her experience of moving from New Zealand and being separated from her family there.

In 2006, Fleur Adcock received a major award in Britain. She won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry for her book Poems 1960–2000. She was only the seventh woman to receive this award in its 73-year history.

Her Personal Life

Fleur Adcock was married twice to well-known New Zealand writers. In 1952, she married Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, but they divorced in 1958. In 1962, she married Barry Crump, and they divorced in 1963. She had two sons, Gregory and Andrew, with her first husband.

Fleur Adcock's mother, Irene Adcock, was also a writer. Her sister, Marilyn Duckworth, is a novelist.

Fleur Adcock passed away on 11 October 2024, at the age of 90, after a short illness.

Poetry Collections

• 1964: The Eye of the Hurricane, Wellington: Reed
• 1967: Tigers, London: Oxford University Press
• 1971: High Tide in the Garden, London: Oxford University Press
• 1974: The Scenic Route, London and New York: Oxford University Press
• 1979: The Inner Harbour, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
• 1979: Below Loughrigg, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books
• 1983: Selected Poems, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
• 1986: Hotspur: a ballad, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books ISBN: 978-1-85224-001-1
• 1986: The Incident Book, Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press
• 1988: Meeting the Comet, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books
• 1991: Time-zones, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
• 1997: Looking Back, Oxford and Auckland: Oxford University Press
• 2000: Poems 1960–2000, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books ISBN: 978-1-85224-530-6
• 2010: Dragon Talk, Tarset: Bloodaxe Books ISBN: 978-1-85224-878-9
• 2013: Glass Wings, Tarset: Bloodaxe Books and Wellington, NZ: Victoria University Press.
• 2014: The Land Ballot, Wellington, NZ: Victoria University Press, Tarset: Bloodaxe Books.
• 2017: Hoard, Wellington, NZ: Victoria University Press, Hexham: Bloodaxe Books.
• 2019: Collected Poems, Wellington, NZ: Victoria University Press.
• 2021: The Mermaid's Tale, Wellington, NZ: Victoria University Press, Hexham: Bloodaxe Books.
• 2024: Collected Poems, Hexham: Bloodaxe Books, Wellington, NZ: Te Herenga Waka University Press.

Books She Edited or Translated

Fleur Adcock also worked as an editor and translator for several books:

• 1982: Editor, Oxford Book of Contemporary New Zealand Poetry, Auckland: Oxford University Press
• 1983: Translator, The Virgin and the Nightingale: Medieval Latin poems, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books, ISBN: 978-0-906427-55-2
• 1987: Editor, Faber Book of 20th Century Women's Poetry, London and Boston: Faber and Faber
• 1989: Translator, Orient Express: Poems. Grete Tartler, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
• 1992: Translator, Letters from Darkness: Poems, Daniela Crasnaru, Oxford: Oxford University Press
• 1994: Translator and editor, Hugh Primas and the Archpoet, Cambridge, England, and New York: Cambridge University Press
• 1995: Editor (with Jacqueline Simms), The Oxford Book of Creatures, verse and prose anthology, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Awards and Honours

Fleur Adcock received many awards for her writing throughout her life:

• 1961: Festival of Wellington Poetry Award
• 1964: New Zealand State Literary Fund Award
• 1968: Buckland Award (New Zealand)
• 1968: Jessie Mackay Prize (New Zealand)
• 1972: Jessie Mackay Prize (New Zealand)
• 1976: Cholmondeley Award (United Kingdom)
• 1979: Buckland Award (New Zealand)
• 1984: New Zealand National Book Award for Selected Poems (1983)
• 1984: Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
• 1988: Arts Council Writers' Award (United Kingdom)
• 1996: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), for her contributions to literature
• 2006: Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry (United Kingdom) for Poems 1960–2000
• 2007: Honorary Doctor of Literature from Victoria University of Wellington
• 2008: Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for her services to literature
• 2010: Honorary Doctor of Literature from Goldsmiths, University of London

See also

In Spanish: Fleur Adcock para niños