Academy of New Zealand Literature

Acclaimed New Zealand writer Elizabeth Knox is to receive an honorary Doctor of Literature from Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington.

“Elizabeth Knox is an inspiration to young people and emerging writers and is helping grow the next generation of literary talent in Aotearoa New Zealand,” says Chancellor Neil Paviour-Smith. “This honorary doctorate acknowledges her enormous contribution to literature.”

The honorary degree will be awarded during graduation week in September.

Knox, who was made a Companion of the Order of New Zealand Merit for her services to literature in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours, is one of New Zealand’s most successful writers. She has achieved national and international acclaim for her powerfully imagined novels for adults and younger readers. Her best-known work, The Vintner’s Luck, won the Deutz medal for Fiction and the Readers’ Choice and Booksellers’ Choice awards in the 1999 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. In 2001 it was awarded the inaugural Tasmania Pacific Region Prize. It has since been published in 10 languages. The author of 17 works to date, her most recent book is The Absolute Book, published by Victoria University Press. She was awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction in 2019.