Barbara Anderson

Lydia Wevers (Victoria University of Wellington)

Ed. by Mark Williams, Victoria University of Wellington
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 9.1.2: New Zealand Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Doreen D'Cruz (Massey University), Jennifer Lawn (Massey University), John C. Ross (Massey University), Mark Williams (Victoria University of Wellington)

Dates

Born 1926
Activity 1989-ongoing

Places

Born in New Zealand
Active in New Zealand

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Story-writer

Resources

Anderson's Works

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Barbara Anderson is a novelist and short story writer who began her writing life in her sixties after a career as a medical technologist and teacher. Her first book, a collection of stories called

I think we must go into the jungle

, was described by Michael Hulse in the

Guardian Weekly

as ‘one of the sharpest collections in English since Carver's Cathedral in 1984'. Anderson has now published eight novels and two collections of stories. Born in Hastings she grew up in rural New Zealand, a background and location reflected in many of her novels, especially

Long Hot Summer.

Her first degree was a Bachelor of Science from Otago University (1947) but in 1983 she took Bill Manhire's creative writing course at Victoria University, and the next year graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. During…

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1223 words

Citation: Wevers, Lydia. "Barbara Anderson". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 November 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11853, accessed 23 November 2024.]