Background
His 20th and final collection, The bells of St Babel's, was published in March 2001, a few months before his death at the age of 90.
His 20th and final collection, The bells of St Babel's, was published in March 2001, a few months before his death at the age of 90.
He planned to follow his father into the Anglican clergy, but abandoned that ambition in the early 1930s. Drawn increasingly to poetry, he pursued a career in journalism to support his vocation of creative writer. He established himself at the Press newspaper in Christchurch.Allen Curnow worked in journalism in New Zealand, London, and the USA before taking up academic posts at Auckland University.