Lydia Wevers

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Lydia Joyce Wevers

ONZM
Born1950
Netherlands
Died4 September 2021(2021-09-04) (aged 70–71)
Wellington, New Zealand
AwardsOfficer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Pou Aronui Award from the Royal Society Te Apārangi
RelativesMaarten Wevers (brother)
Academic background
Academic work
DisciplineLiterary criticism
Literary history
InstitutionsVictoria University of Wellington

Lydia Joyce Wevers ONZM (1950 – 4 September 2021) was a New Zealand literary critic, English language literary historian, editor, and book reviewer. She was an academic at Victoria University of Wellington for many years, including acting as director of the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies from 2001 to 2017. Her academic research focussed on New Zealand literature and print culture.

Biography[]

Wevers moved to New Zealand from the Netherlands in 1953.[1] She became a lecturer in Renaissance literature at Victoria University of Wellington in 1973, after graduating from the University of Oxford, and subsequently developed expertise in New Zealand literature.[2][3]

From 1998 to 2001 she was a Senior Associate/Research Associate at the university, and the principal researcher for the History of Print Culture Project.[1] In 2002 she founded the Journal of New Zealand Studies, a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary journal for articles with a focus on New Zealand.[4] She assisted with Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand from its inception in 2005,[4] including writing the section on Fiction.[5] She also spent periods living and working overseas during her career, including at the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney where she also developed an interest in Australian literature.[3]

She was the director of the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies at Victoria University from 2001 to 2017.[3][6] At the time Wevers was appointed as a part-time director, the university had been considering the centre's closure, and it was through her efforts that the centre became an integral part of the university with additional staff members, connections with other research institutes and a broad scope of research into New Zealand society, history and culture.[2][3]

Wevers was a former vice-president of the New Zealand Book Council, and chaired the Trustees of the National Library. She was a member of the 2001 selection panel for the Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Awards and was a member of the Arts Board of Creative New Zealand.[1] She reviewed books for Nine to Noon on National Radio as well as major newspapers, journals, and magazines.[1]

Wevers lived in Wellington. She died at home on 4 September 2021.[7]

Honours and awards[]

She was an Honorary Life Member of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature and a Fellow of the Stockholm Collegium of World Literary History.[4]

In the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours, Wevers was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to literature.[8]

In 2014, Wevers was awarded the Pou Aronui Award by the Royal Society Te Apārangi for distinguished service to the humanities. The selection panel described her as a "tireless and effective champion of New Zealand's literature, history, thought and culture".[4] In 2017 she was a 150 women in 150 words laureate of the Royal Society Te Apārangi.[9]

Literary works (as author, editor or contributor)[]

  • 1984 Selected poems/Robin Hyde
  • 1987 Happy Endings: Stories by Australian and New Zealand Women, 1850s-1930s
  • 1989 Goodbye to Romance: Stories by Australian and New Zealand Women 1930s –1980s
  • 1990 Tabasco Sauce and Ice Cream: Stories by New Zealanders[10]
  • 2000 Travelling to New Zealand: An Oxford Anthology[11]
  • 2002 Country of Writing: Travel Writing About New Zealand 1809-1900[12]
  • 2004 On Reading
  • 2010 Reading on the Farm: Victorian Fiction and the Colonial World[13]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Wevers, Lydia". Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Lydia Wevers". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Stout Research Centre farewells long-serving director". Victoria University of Wellington. 24 July 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "2014 Pou Aronui award: An ambassador for New Zealand literature and the arts". Royal Society Te Apārangi. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  5. ^ Wevers, Lydia (19 August 2015). "Fiction". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  6. ^ "Lydia Wevers bids a fond farewell to the Stout Research Centre". Radio New Zealand. 30 July 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  7. ^ "Lydia Joyce WEVERS". The New Zealand Herald. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  8. ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2006". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 5 June 2006. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  9. ^ "150 Women in 150 Words". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  10. ^ Wevers, Lydia (1990). Tabasco Sauce and Ice Cream: Stories by New Zealanders. Macmillan. pp. 176 pages. ISBN 9780333416365.
  11. ^ Wevers, Lydia (2000). Travelling to New Zealand : an Oxford anthology. Auckland, New Zealand: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195584112.
  12. ^ Wevers, Lydia (2002). Country of Writing: Travel Writing and New Zealand, 1809-1900. Auckland University Press. pp. 234 pages. ISBN 9781869402716.
  13. ^ Wevers, Lydia (August 2010). Reading on the Farm: Victorian Fiction and the Colonial World. Victoria University Press. pp. 344pp. ISBN 9780864736352.

External links[]

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