25 April 2006
Media Statement

Congratulations to Fleur Adcock on Royal honour

Prime Minister Helen Clark today congratulated poet Fleur Adcock on receiving the prestigious Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry for 2006.

"This is a stunning achievement and puts the Auckland-born writer in the company of the world's greatest English-language poets, including WH Auden, Siegfried Sassoon, John Betjeman, Philip Larkin, Robert Graves, Sir Stephen Spender, Ted Hughes, and the late Allen Curnow, who was awarded this prize in 1989," Helen Clark said.

"The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry has been awarded to British or Commonwealth poets since 1934, with recommendations made by an eminent committee chaired by the Poet Laureate. Fleur Adcock will be presented with the medal by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on June 7th.

Fleur Adcock was born in Auckland in 1934 and spent much of her childhood in England. She studied at Victoria University and taught at the University of Otago, before moving to London in 1963. In addition to her own poems she has published translations of Romanian and medieval Latin poetry.

Her sister, the novelist Marilyn Duckworth, has also been recognized with numerous literary awards.

"This is a great honour for Fleur Adcock and for New Zealand. My congratulations go to Fleur for her remarkable achievement," Helen Clark said.

ENDS

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