Kevin Ireland

Kevin Mark Ireland (né Jowsey; 18 July 1933 – 19 May 2023) was a New Zealand poet, short story writer, novelist and librettist.

Early life and career
Ireland was born Kevin Mark Jowsey in Auckland on 18 July 1933. As an infant he travelled to London with his parents where they lived for a time before returning to New Zealand. Shortly thereafter, his parents' marriage failed and he grew up on his maternal grandfather's Waikato farm, and then in Takapuna where he lived with his father. After leaving school, he studied at Auckland Teachers' College but did not complete a qualification.

After changing his surname by deed poll to Ireland in 1957, he headed to London in 1959 where he remained for twenty-five years (with the interlude of a short interval in Bulgaria, translating Bulgarian poetry into English); for two decades, Ireland was employed by The Times.

In 1986, Ireland was writer-in-residence at the University of Canterbury; in 1987, he was awarded the Sargeson Fellowship; in 1989, he was the University of Auckland's writing fellow, assistant editor of Quote Unquote, and president of PEN, 1990–91.

Personal life and death
Ireland's first wife was Bulgarian film critic Donna Marinova whom he met and wed in Sofia in 1959. After he spent 20 months in Bulgaria, the Communist authorities allowed Donna to leave the country and the young family moved to London. Ten years later they divorced. Ireland's second wife was Phoebe Caroline Dalwood (1940–2007); Ireland had two sons and lived in Devonport, New Zealand. He re-married in 2012 to Professor Janet Mary Wilson. Ireland died after a battle with cancer in Auckland, on 19 May 2023, at the age of 89.

Honours and awards

 * 1979 – New Zealand Book Award for Poetry for Literary Cartoons
 * 1990 – New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal
 * 1992 – Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to literature, in the 1992 Queen's Birthday Honours
 * 2000 – Conferred with an honorary Doctor of Literature degree by Massey University
 * 2004 – Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement