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Dowrick, Lee
Writer's File

Lee Dowrick

Deceased
Dowrick, Lee
In brief
Born in Palmerston North, Lee Dowrick (1931-2013) was a poet who decamped to Auckland in the 1950s. At the beginning of her career, she worked at Auckland University, as well as in bookshops and libraries. She published three collections of poetry and wrote that she seeks to ‘capture images and the atmosphere of the life and times of the forties in the country, the fifties in the city.’
Bio

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dowrick, Lee (1931–2013) was a poet. Dowrick was born in Palmerston North and grew up in Waipukurau before decamping for Auckland in the 1950s. At the beginning of her career Dowrick worked at Auckland University as well as in bookshops and libraries.

Dowrick published three books of poetry What’s Left in Politics? (1993), That Was Then (1998) and I run in my stilettos (2001). Dowrick wrote that her work seeks to 'capture images and the atmosphere of the life and times of the Forties in the country, the Fifties in the city.'

Writing about I run in my stilettos, in the Wanganui Chronicle, Lucy Corry states 'These poems have all the exuberance of giggly giddy youth. They fairly skitter across the pages.' In Spin Simon Sweetman writes about the collection, 'Dowrick’s flair for mixing honesty and fantasy into nostalgia is displayed in this romp-through-reminiscing; the poems here explain life in the 1950s, memory is no stranger here, rather a close, constant friend.'

Lee Dowrick died on 29 November 2013.

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