Bill Manhire (b. 1946) was born in Invercargill, New Zealand, and joined the English Department at Victoria University, Wellington, in 1973, where he has held a Personal Chair since 1997. As a ‘young’ New Zealand poet of the late 1960s, he has ever since played a leading role in the development and promotion of the country’s contemporary poetry. Apart from a dozen collections, Manhire has edited several anthologies and, more recently, has also published short fiction, essays and interviews.