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Harry Ricketts
Harry Ricketts (born 1950) is a New Zealand poet, biographer, editor, anthologist, critic, academic, literary scholar and cricket writer. Born and educated in England, Ricketts began teaching poetry at Victoria University of Wellington in 1981. He has published a number of poetry collections, and written biographies of Rudyard Kipling and of a dozen British First World War poets.
Ricketts was born in London in 1950. His father, Jack (John) Ricketts, was a career officer in the British Army, serving in World War II and in Malaya and Hong Kong in the 1950s. Ricketts was brought up in London, Malaysia and Hong Kong. He was educated first at a prep school in Kent and later at Wellington College, Berkshire.
From an early age, Ricketts developed an interest in cricket and opened the bowling for two years for the Wellington College First XI. After school, he studied English at Oxford University completing a BA (1st Class Honours) and an MLitt on Kipling's short stories (1975). He then taught at the University of Hong Kong (1974–1977) and the University of Leicester (1978–1981) before moving to New Zealand. At Leicester, he knew the poet and critic G. S. Fraser and became friends with the poet Robert Wells.
In 1981, Ricketts took up a lectureship in the English Department at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and for many years has run a Modern Poetry course, combining British, American and New Zealand poets. In the 1990s he taught poetry workshops for the Continuing Education Centre at Victoria and more recently has taught non-fiction and fiction writing courses for the IIML (International Institute of Modern Letters).
Ricketts began writing poetry at school. At Oxford he was arts editor of the student newspaper Cherwell and wrote for the OSAC magazine, interviewing writers like John Wain.
During the 1980s, he started to publish academic work, such as an edition of Rudyard Kipling's ‘lost’ New Zealand story "One Lady at Wairakei" (1983) and a valuable book of interviews with New Zealand poets, Talking about Ourselves (1986). This book introduced Ricketts to the New Zealand poetry scene, and he became friends with the Wellington poets Louis Johnson and Lauris Edmond.
He also became involved with the New Zealand Poetry Society, edited anthologies for them, was president for a time in the late 1980s, and at Victoria encouraged his students through the student publication Writings and later JAAM magazine in the 1990s, a Victoria Writer's Club magazine that became international.
Roger Robinson comments on his poetry that: "Ricketts’ best are either deftly satiric 'light verse' ... or wry commentaries on the perplexities of love, marriage or parenthood."
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Harry Ricketts
Harry Ricketts (born 1950) is a New Zealand poet, biographer, editor, anthologist, critic, academic, literary scholar and cricket writer. Born and educated in England, Ricketts began teaching poetry at Victoria University of Wellington in 1981. He has published a number of poetry collections, and written biographies of Rudyard Kipling and of a dozen British First World War poets.
Ricketts was born in London in 1950. His father, Jack (John) Ricketts, was a career officer in the British Army, serving in World War II and in Malaya and Hong Kong in the 1950s. Ricketts was brought up in London, Malaysia and Hong Kong. He was educated first at a prep school in Kent and later at Wellington College, Berkshire.
From an early age, Ricketts developed an interest in cricket and opened the bowling for two years for the Wellington College First XI. After school, he studied English at Oxford University completing a BA (1st Class Honours) and an MLitt on Kipling's short stories (1975). He then taught at the University of Hong Kong (1974–1977) and the University of Leicester (1978–1981) before moving to New Zealand. At Leicester, he knew the poet and critic G. S. Fraser and became friends with the poet Robert Wells.
In 1981, Ricketts took up a lectureship in the English Department at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and for many years has run a Modern Poetry course, combining British, American and New Zealand poets. In the 1990s he taught poetry workshops for the Continuing Education Centre at Victoria and more recently has taught non-fiction and fiction writing courses for the IIML (International Institute of Modern Letters).
Ricketts began writing poetry at school. At Oxford he was arts editor of the student newspaper Cherwell and wrote for the OSAC magazine, interviewing writers like John Wain.
During the 1980s, he started to publish academic work, such as an edition of Rudyard Kipling's ‘lost’ New Zealand story "One Lady at Wairakei" (1983) and a valuable book of interviews with New Zealand poets, Talking about Ourselves (1986). This book introduced Ricketts to the New Zealand poetry scene, and he became friends with the Wellington poets Louis Johnson and Lauris Edmond.
He also became involved with the New Zealand Poetry Society, edited anthologies for them, was president for a time in the late 1980s, and at Victoria encouraged his students through the student publication Writings and later JAAM magazine in the 1990s, a Victoria Writer's Club magazine that became international.
Roger Robinson comments on his poetry that: "Ricketts’ best are either deftly satiric 'light verse' ... or wry commentaries on the perplexities of love, marriage or parenthood."