Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Turner 'humbled' by honorary doctorate in literature

By Matthew Haggart on Thu, 28 Jul 2011 - Otago Daily Times.


Ida Valley poet Brian Turner. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Ida Valley poet Brian Turner. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Central Otago poet Brian Turner will add another accolade to an already long list of literary achievements when he is conferred with an honorary degree by the University of Otago next month.
     The university will bestow a doctor of literature on Turner at a graduation ceremony on August 27, a distinction the former New Zealand Poet Laureate says he is "quite humbled by".
"I'm honoured, pleased, and surprised. It's a tribute I find quite special - from one of New Zealand's premier universities and the province where I was brought up," Turner said.
Alongside a prolific and critically acclaimed career as a poet, Turner has also written several sporting biographies, non-fiction books, television documentaries, and has a substantial body of work in the field of journalism.
"It is nice ... the people there think I'm worthy enough to be considered for such a distinction. It makes you feel quite humbled," he said.
A resident of Ida Valley township Oturehua since 1999, Turner spent part of his childhood living near the university in North Dunedin.
In 1984, he was made a Robert Burns Fellow at the University of Otago, years after an earlier experience as a scarfie there.
"I spent one term studying part-time there, before I gained a promotion at the job in which I was working and moved to Christchurch. That was the end of my 'anything but glittering' time as a university student," Turner said.
In 1997, he was the writer in residence at the University of Canterbury. Turner received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2009 and he has also won national and Commonwealth awards for his poetry and writing. He said he would feel uncomfortable using the title of Dr.
"A great many of my friends have university qualifications, as they say, and my son is also a graduate [from Otago].
"My qualifications are in other fields, the type of which you don't usually require pieces of paper and the like," Turner said.
University vice-chancellor Prof Sir David Skegg said Turner was one of the country's most gifted poets, whose work had not only been met with critical acclaim but had also attracted a large popular following.
"I'm delighted the university is able to celebrate Mr Turner's outstanding poetic achievements and his other extensive contributions to New Zealand life and letters," Prof Skegg said.
Turner will also deliver the graduation address at next month's ceremony.

Footnote:  
This story appeared in the Otago Daily Times while I was away overseas and has just been brought to my attention by a publisher friend. Turner is an old friend of mine from way back when I was a bookseller in Napier and he was a sales rep for Oxford University Press.We are as different as chalk and cheese but have always been good mates and I have particular and huge admiration for his abilities as a poet and for his skills as a trout fisherman. I am delighted for him with this honour, well done Turner, and good on you Otago University for recognising local talent.

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