Dr Cilla McQueen, of Bluff, MNZM for services as a poet
Dr Cilla McQueen has been one of New Zealand’s most distinguished poets since the early 1980s. She has written 15 volumes of poetry, won the New Zealand Book Award for poetry three times, and was the New Zealand Poet Laureate. She primarily writes about the Otago and Southland regions, with a particular focus on landscapes, people and history. She frequently volunteers to give readings of her poetry at schools and community centres around New Zealand. She has been the Burns Fellow at the University of Otago and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University. In 2010, Dr McQueen received the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement.