Peter Gordon Bland, poet, actor, playwright and critic, has had, in his own words, a life marked by “a restless journeying between the land of my birth [England] and the country of my adoption [New Zealand]” (

, 11). During his first period in New Zealand, from 1954 to 1968, he was a member of the so-called “Wellington School” of poets, along with James K. Baxter, Louis Johnson, Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, Fleur Adcock and others. In the 1960s he had an important role in the establishment and early years of Wellington’s Downstage Theatre, the country’s first city-based professional theatre company. His memoir,

(2004) provides a vivid account of his life up to his first return to England in 1968. During his time working as a professional…

4008 words

Citation: Ross, John C.. "Peter Bland". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 January 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=440, accessed 19 April 2024.]

• View recommended reading for this article