Peter Simpson (writer)


Peter Alan Simpson is a academic, writer, literary critic, and former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

Early life

Simpson was born in Takaka in 1942. He attended Nelson College. He gained a MA from the University of Canterbury and a PhD from the University of Toronto with a 1975 thesis titled 'Wordsworth to Hardy : lines of relationship and continuity in nineteenth century English poetry' .

Member of Parliament

He represented the electorate of Lyttelton in Parliament from 1987 to 1990, when he was defeated by Gail McIntosh, one of a number of losses contributing to the fall of the Fourth Labour Government.

Professional life

Simpson had been teaching English since the 1960s at various universities. He was at Massey University, University of Toronto and Carleton University. In his last teaching role, he was at the University of Auckland as Associate Professor in the Department of English, and head of English, roles from which he retired in 2008.
He is the director of Holloway Press, set up at the University of Auckland in 1994 and named after Ron Holloway, a renowned university printer and publisher.

Private life

Simpson lives in Auckland. He is married with two children.