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David Watt Ballantyne (14 June 1924 – 24 February 1986) was a New Zealand journalist, novelist and short story writer.
David Ballantyne | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 June 1924 |
| Died | 24 February 1986 (aged 61) |
| Other names | David Watt Ballantyne |
| Occupation | Journalist |
Ballantyne was born in Auckland, New Zealand on 14 June 1924.[1] He was Māori affiliated to the iwi Ngāti Uenukukōpako and Ngāti Hinepare of Te Arawa.[2]
After a brief episode in the military and after not completing his medical studies, he began his career as a journalist at the Auckland Star. In 1948, he published his first novel, The Cunninghams in the United States. He finished Freeman’s Bay, a novel about Auckland working-class life, in 1950, but it was not accepted by either his American or his New Zealand publisher.[1]
Ballantyne married the painter Jean Vivienne Margaret Heise in 1950, with whom he had a son. In 1954 he moved with his family to London, where he continued working as a journalist and author. In 1966, the family returned to New Zealand.
Ballantyne died at his home in Ponsonby in inner-city Auckland in 1986.[1]
He published eight novels, of which the first The Cunninghams and the fifth, Sydney Bridge Upside Down are recognised as New Zealand literary classics.[citation needed]
Sydney Bridge Upside Down was adapted by director James Ashcroft into a stage-play for Taki Rua and presented at the Hannah Playhouse in 2013. [3]
His great-grandmother was Hēni Te Kiri Karamu.[2]
- The Cunninghams (1948)
- The Last Pioneer (1963)
- A Friend of the Family (1966)
- Sydney Bridge Upside Down (1968)
- The Talkback Man (1978)
- The Penfriend (1980)
- And the Glory (1983)
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