CK Stead is one of New Zealand's foremost
literary figures.

He is a distinguished novelist, literary critic, poet,
essayist and emeritus professor of English of the
University of Auckland.

Stead has won and been nominated for many prestigious awards and fellowships, including the Creative New Zealand Michael King Writers’ Fellowship in 2005.

Stead was made a Member of the Order of New Zealand in 2007. He is one of only two living NZ writers to hold
the ONZ.