James K Baxter

Baxter started writing poetry very early (he claims to have started age 7) and during his teens he had accumulated a large body of technically-accomplished work. He continued to write throughout his lifetime producing poetry, plays, novels and other works
In 1944 he published his first volume of poetry and began studying at the University of Otago. “Beyond the Palisades” met with critical acclaim and owes much to the influence of Dylan Thomas. He failed to complete his degree and was forced to take a variety of relatively unskilled jobs. His experiences fuelled his writings as, for example, in "Ballad of the Stonegut Sugar Works" based on his work as a cleaner in a sugar refinery.
Baxter married Jacqueline Sturm in 1948 and at about the same time joined the Anglican Church
Baxter joined Wellington Teacher’s College in 1951 and went on to study at Victoria University College before becoming a teacher in 1954 and receiving his B.A. in 1956. During this period he published several books including 3 major collections of poetry.
During all this time Baxter, who had started drinking at Otago in the 1940’s started drinking much more heavily until, in 1954, he joined AA. He inherited a substantial legacy in 1955 and could afford a change of career. He began to write and edit primary school bulletins for the Department of Education’s School Publications Branch in 1956 although in his own writing he made a number of attacks on official bureaucracy.
In 1957 he became a Roman Catholic and “In Fires of No Return”, published in 1958 the influence can be clearly observed. This was also his first book published outside New Zealand. It was about this time that his wife, a committed Anglican, divorced him.
In 1958 he obtained funding from UNESCO and was able to undertake an extended tour of Asia. He subsequently write and published many powerful plays and poems including the radio play “Jack Winter’s Dream” which established him as a truly international literary presence although he still had to work (as a postman) to support himself.
Following publication of a collection of poems “Pig Island” in 1966 Baxter returned to Otago but this time to take up the Robert Burns Fellowship. He left this post two years later to “Go to Jerusalem” (a small Maori settlement). Later he spent some time in Auckland where he set up a centre for drug addicts similar to the AA centres. Although he moved to Jerusalem and changed his name to the Maori equivalent (Hemi) he made frequent trips back to the cities where he did social work amongst the poor and used his influence to speak out against a society that condoned poverty. His poems from that time have strongly mirror his social and political convictions.
The harsh deprivations Baxter endured took their toll on his health and, though he moved to a commune in Auckland in 1972, he died following a coronary thrombosis at the age of 46. He was buried at Jerusalem with a ceremony combining Maori and Catholic traditions.