Jacqueline Cecilia (J.C.) Sturm

Taranaki, Te Whakatōhea

1927 - 2009

She was born in Opunake and was educated at several primary schools, Palmerston North Girls’ High School and Napier Girls’ High. She continued her studies at Otago, Canterbury and Victoria Universities and graduated with M.A. (Hons) in Philosophy from Victoria in 1952. In the 1950s and 1960s, she was a member of Ngāti Poneke Māori Club. She was an active member of the Māori Women’s Welfare League and was secretary of the Wellington District Council of the MWWL. From 1964-1968 she was the League’s representative on the Māori Education Foundation. In 1969 she began working as a Library Assistant at the Wellington Public Library’s Reference Room and subsequently took up the position of New Zealand Room Librarian, a position she held for twenty-three years until her retirement in 1992.

In the 1940s, a number of her poems were published in student newspapers and in Review. In the 1950s, she wrote book reviews and short stories for Te Ao Hou and Numbers. In 1980, on the occasion of the opening of the Women’s Gallery in Wellington, she gave her first public reading with Keri Hulme, Patricia Grace and others. Her short story collection The House of the Talking Cat, published in 1983 was shortlisted in the NZ Book Awards. Her collection of poetry Dedications published in 1996 was awarded the Honour Award for Poetry in the Montana Book Awards of 1997. She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Literature from Victoria University in 2003. She was formerly a member of the Wellington branch of the Federation of University Women.



Biographical sources

  • Interview and correspondence with J. C. Sturm in Oct. 1991, 29 May and 13 July 1998, and 19 Sept. 2004.
  • Te Ha questionnaire, 1992.
  • Te Ao Hou 46 (1964): 3.
  • Into the World of Light: An Anthology of Māori Writing. Ed. Witi Ihimaera and D. S. Long. Auckland, N.Z.: Heinemann, 1982. 89.

    Biography

  • "Wanting the Stars to Play With." Growing Up Māori. Ed. Witi Ihimaera. Auckland, N.Z.: Tandem Press, 1998. 167-170.

  • Fiction

  • "The Old Coat." Numbers 1 (July 1954): 22-24.
  • In this first published story by Sturm, the narrator is suddenly confronted by the malevolent force of an old coat which appears possessed by unseen powers that menace the household.
  • "Where to, Lady?" Numbers 2 (Nov. 1954): 20-27. Rpt. in The House of the Talking Cat: Stories. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Spiral, 1983. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Spiral; Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. 17-24. Rpt. in Goodbye to Romance: Stories by New Zealand and Australian Women Writers 1930-1988. Ed. Elizabeth Webby and Lydia Wevers. Wellington, N.Z.: Allen & Unwin; Port Nicholson, 1989. 84-92.
  • Sally’s afternoon away from dull domesticity is thwarted by unforseen difficulties and ironically she ends up washing dishes in a sleazy grill room. In this story the world outside the home proves to be even more lonely and oppressive for women.
  • "The Earrings." Numbers 4 (1955): 20-25. Rpt. in The House Of The Talking Cat: Stories. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Spiral, 1983. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Spiral; Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. 33-38.
  • When Helen spontaneously adds her long drop earrings to her outfit before meeting with a male friend she betrays a lingering hope for rekindled romance. Instead she encounters awkwardness and a lack of the former intimacy.
  • "For All The Saints." Te Ao Hou 4 (1955): 22-24, 43. Rpt. in New Zealand Short Stories 2. Ed. C. K. Stead. Auckland; Wellington, N.Z.: Auckland UP; Oxford UP, 1966. 143-149. Trans. into Swedish and rpt. as "Alice" Mellan Tva Varldar. Ed. Bengt Dagrin. [Sweden]: Forfattares Bokmaskin, 1982. 46-54. Rpt. in The House of the Talking Cat: Stories. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Spiral, 1983. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Spiral; Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. 49-55.
  • A portrait of Alice, a hospital kitchen hand, and her struggles with her illiteracy, temper and making a living to support her aunt in the country. This was the first of a series of short stories by Māori authors published in Te Ao Hou. "For all the Saints" was broadcast in Germany on March 1 1975 by Westdeutscher Rundfunk Koln in a radio broadcast entitled "For Lovers of Foreign Prose."
  • "The Dance." Numbers 6 (Mar. 1957): 14-21. Rpt. in The House of the Talking Cat: Stories. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Spiral, 1983. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Spiral; Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. 25-32.
  • This story explores the convoluted and intertwining relationships of four married couples socialising together. Behind their lighthearted humour, flirtation, drinking and frivolity the writer reveals the underlying boredom, sadness, and hatred of some of the relationships.
  • "Goodbye, Goodbye." Arena 50 (Summer 1958/59): 8-12.
  • When the narrator drops in to see her recently married friend, Catherine, she discerns that behind Catherine’s cheerful patter of conversation she is still missing her former boyfriend.
  • "For the Novelty." Numbers 9 (Feb. 1959): 15-24. Rpt. as "The Bankrupts." In The House of the Talking Cat: Stories. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Spiral, 1983. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Spiral; Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. 1-9.
  • A story describing the self-conscious romantic interlude of Evelyn and Michael. Although they had planned to go to the movies, Michael has other plans and steers Evelyn to the gardens unaware that the gardens contain a special private world for Evelyn.
  • "First Native and Pink Pig." Into the World of Light: An Anthology of Māori Writing. Ed. Witi Ihimaera and D. S. Long. Auckland, N.Z.: Heinemann, 1982. 69-79. Trans. into Swedish as "Fodelsedagsplanen" and rpt. in Mellan Tva Varldar. Ed. Bengt Dagrin. [Sweden]: Forfattares Bokmaskin, 1982. 55-68. Rpt. in The House of the Talking Cat: Stories. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Spiral, 1983. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Spiral; Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. 83-93. Trans. into Japanese and published in Fujin-no-Tomo 2 (20 January 1988).
  • In this story George, a young Māori school boy, grapples with racism at his school and tries to subvert it by inviting the most racist boy to his birthday party.
  • "Jerusalem, Jerusalem." Into the World of Light: An Anthology of Māori Writing. Ed. Witi Ihimaera and D. S. Long. Auckland, N.Z.: Heinemann, 1982. 79-89. Rpt. in The House of the Talking Cat: Stories. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Spiral, 1983. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Spiral; Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. 95-105. Rpt. in In Deadly Earnest: A Collection of Fiction by New Zealand Women. 1870s-1980s. Comp. and introd. Trudie McNaughton. Auckland, N.Z.: Century Hutchinson, 1989. 183-192.
  • A brief glimpse of a friend from her childhood takes the narrator back to her early years at the Bay and the destruction of the Bay community to make way for a motorway.
  • "The Too Good Memsahib." The House of the Talking Cat: stories by J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Spiral, 1983. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Spiral in association with Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. 63-81. Rpt. in Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Volume 1: Te Whakahuatanga O Te Ao: Reflections of Reality. Selected and edited by Witi Ihimaera. Contributing editors: Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1992. 114-130.
  • In this story a memsahib writes of the breaking down of traditional cultural barriers between East and West while blindly insisting on her own way when interacting with Indian customs and sensibilities.
  • "A Thousand and One Nights." The House of the Talking Cat: Stories. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Spiral, 1983. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Spiral; Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. 11-16. Rpt. in In Deadly Earnest: A Collection of Fiction by New Zealand Women. 1870s-1980s. Comp. and introd. Trudie McNaughton. Auckland, N.Z.: Century Hutchinson, 1989. 193-197. Rpt. in The Faber Book of Contemporary South Pacific Stories. Ed. C. K. Stead. London, UK: Faber and Faber, 1994. 196-202.
  • Amidst a benign domestic scene of a mother caring for her two children is the spectre of an alcoholic husband and the wife’s dread of his imminent return.
  • "The House of the Talking Cat." The House of the Talking Cat: Stories. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Spiral, 1983. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Spiral; Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. 39-47.
  • A story of the role of a cat in the relations and affections of a family.
  • "The Walkie-talkie." The House of the Talking Cat: Stories. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Spiral, 1983. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Spiral; Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. 57-61.
  • A portrait of Les and Amy adjusting to the aging process and their own mortality.
  • The House of the Talking Cat: Stories. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Spiral, 1983. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Spiral; Hodder and Stoughton, 1986.
  • A collection, divided into two parts, of eleven short stories which explores the intricacies of parent/child relationships, adolescent love, the complexities of marriage, the weariness of women in the home-maker/child-minder role and the difficulties of cross-cultural relationships.
  • "The Japanese Glass Fishing Float." Wasafiri 25 (Spring 1997): 62-66.
  • A story of the Kanaks in Noumea and the crass sensitivities of Olga.

    • Non-fiction

  • "The Māori Women’s Welfare League." Te Ao Hou 9 (1954): 8+.
  • Sturm traces the development of the Māori Women’s’ Welfare League from its early origins in the Māori Health League and the women’s welfare committees of the Māori Welfare Division. She discusses the aims of the League and describes its organisation which is composed of the League Branch, the District Council and the Dominion Council. Sturm gives a brief history of other women’s societies in New Zealand since 1875.
  • "The Ngāti Poneke Young Māori Club." Te Ao Hou 12 (1955): 29+.
  • A history of the Ngāti Poneke Young Māori Club which began in the 1930s when Lady Pomare and other member of her Welfare Committee felt a concern for young Māori coming to Wellington, N.Z. Sturm writes that the main aim of the club was ‘to recapture and develop... knowledge of Māori culture, and to bring the young people together.’ Sturm writes of her involvement with the club and describes a number of its activities.
  • "Books for Children." Te Ao Hou 13 (1955): 52-54.
  • Sturm writes of the importance of cultivating in children an interest in reading for enjoyment and she lists books suitable for children in four age-groups from pre-school to standard four.
  • "Books for Older Children." Te Ao Hou 14 (1956): 54-55.
  • Following her previous article in Te Ao Hou 13 on suitable reading material for young children, Sturm suggests books appropriate for young people from Form One level and higher and notes that there are very few New Zealand books written for intermediate readers.
  • "Progress Day Held at Wellington, N.Z. M. W. W. L." Te Ao Hou 46 (1964): 40.
  • As Honorary Secretary of the Wellington, N.Z. District Council of the Māori Women’s Welfare League, Baxter describes the Wellington, N.Z. District Council’s Progress Day held at Upper Hutt Primary School on September 28, 1963.
  • "Twenty-three Years..." Pikitanga: He Apiti I Te Rau Ora 2 (May 1992): 7-8. Supplement inside Library Life: New Zealand Library Association Newsletter 158 (May 1992).
  • A description of Baxter’s twenty-three years working initially as a Library Assistant and then as the New Zealand Room Librarian at the Wellington, N.Z. Public Library.
  • "Three Men and their Mags." Landfall 185 New Series 1.1 (Apr. 1993): 5-7.
  • Sturm assesses the contribution of three editors who established literary journals in the 1950s: Charles Brasch, editor of Landfall, Louis Johnson, editor of Numbers, and Eric Schwimmer, editor of Te Ao Hou.
  • "A Kind of Time Capsule: The New Zealand Room in Context." He Tohu: The New Zealand Room: A Commemorative Project. Jacqueline Fraser. Ed. Gregory Burke. Wellington, N.Z.: City Gallery, Wellington City Council, 1993. 11-14.
  • Sturm provides a history of the Wellington Public Library’s New Zealand collection and discusses issues surrounding New Zealanders going to war in 1940 and the 1940 centenary celebrations which included the refurbishing of the Wellington, N.Z. Library as a centennial project. Sturm notes that the New Zealand Room is like a ‘time capsule’ containing literature and art which embody the changing nature of New Zealand society and identity in the war years and post-war era.

    • Other

  • Dedications. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996.
  • A collection of 42 poems in which Sturm explores relationships, origins, mortality, grief, uncertainties, separations, Māori identity and the effects of the past.
  • How Things Are. Adrienne Jansen, Harry Ricketts, J. C. Sturm and Meg Campbell. Porirua; Wellington, N.Z.: Whitireia; Daphne Brasell, 1996.
  • Postscripts. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 2000.

  • Poetry

  • "Grieving, 1972." ibid. 78.
  • In bleak, terse language the speaker berates her husband, James K Baxter, for dying and ‘Leaving / [her] stranded’.
  • "And Again, 1989." ibid. 79-80.
  • In this poem written immediately after the previous poem, the poet again reflects on the death of Baxter. With the passage of time the intensity of grief is dimmed but the reality remains of the pair still being separate.
  • "Simon Says." Te Iwi o Aotearoa 38 (Nov. 1990): 4. Rpt. in Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 17-19.
  • The poem’s title, a play on the children’s game ‘Simon Says’, asserts Māori resistance to slavish following of the latest Pakeha educational scheme and the denial of past wrongs.
  • "Splitting the Stone." Te Iwi o Aotearoa 39 (Dec. 1990): 4. Rpt in Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 1: Te Whakahuatanga O Te Ao: Reflections of Reality. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1992. 109. Rpt. in Hecate: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Women’s Liberation 20.2 (1994): 183-184. Rpt. in How Things Are. Adrienne Jansen, Harry Ricketts, J. C. Sturm and Meg Campbell. Porirua; Wellington, N.Z.: Whitireia; Daphne Brasell, 1996. 50-52. Rpt. in Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 15-16. Rpt. in An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English. Ed. Jenny Bornholdt, Gregory O’Brien and Mark Williams. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1997. 76-77. Rpt. in Whetu Moana: Contemporary Poems in English. Ed. Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, 2003. 196-198.
  • The speaker writes of observing the splitting of a boulder brought down from Taranaki, ‘the place [she calls] home’, and the making of a flax pounder based on the traditional models.
  • "At The Museum On Puke-Ahu (He Waiata Mō Ngā Taonga.)" Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 1: Te Whakahuatanga O Te Ao: Reflections of Reality. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1992. 111-112. Rpt. in Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 13-14. Rpt. in Whetu Moana: Contemporary Poems in English. Ed. Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, 2003. 194-196.
  • This poem describes the tapu lifting ceremony and launch of Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau at the National Museum in Wellington. As the tangata whenua and manuhiri slowly proceed through the building the poet is aware of a oneness with the taonga behind the glass cases ‘Sharing with us / The painful truth / Of irretrievable loss.’
  • "E Waka!" Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 1: Te Whakahuatanga O Te Ao: Reflections of Reality. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1992. 112-114. Rpt. in Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 20-22.
  • A poem celebrating the arrival of the waka to Wellington during the 1990 sesquicentenary and the enormous sense of pride and well-being that their presence engendered in the Māori poet who ‘felt browner and stronger / Than [she’d] ever felt before / And so beautiful, so wonderful/ [She] didn’t know what to do / With [herself].’
  • "To Any Critic." Kapiti Poems Six: A Collection. Pukerua Bay, N.Z.: Rawhiti, 1992. 138-139. Rpt. as "To A Particular Critic." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 55-56.
  • The speaker reveals her inner responses to a critic of her poetry and ultimately decides to follow her own preferences.
  • "Notes On A Journey South." Kapiti Poems Six: A Collection. Pukerua Bay, N.Z.: Rawhiti, 1992. 140-142. Rpt. in Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 72-73.
  • The speaker recalls two versions of a journey south to attend a friend’s funeral and admits a capacity for telling untruths.
  • "Cousin Jack." Kapiti Poems Six: A Collection. Pukerua Bay, N.Z.: Rawhiti, 1992. 143-145. Rpt. in Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 69-71.
  • The speaker comforts her hospital-bound cousin Jack by telling him to subvert the endless round of professional medics and curious young relatives, and to send her his latest story and round of jokes.
  • "Coming Home." Landfall 183 46.3 (Sept. 1992): 259-260. Rpt. in Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 48-49.
  • The speaker recalls times in her life when she had a sense of belonging and notes other occasions when that sense was more transient, fragile and unreliable. The poem affirms the ultimate sense in the Māori world of being ‘at home’ - standing on one’s turangawaewae, the tribal land which is the repository of the bones of the tupuna, and the location of the tribal mountain, waters and people.
  • "Māori to Pakeha." Landfall 183 46.3 (Sept. 1992): 260-261. Rpt. in An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English. Ed. Jenny Bornholdt, Gregory O’Brien and Mark Williams. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1997. 75. Rpt. in Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 50-51.
  • The Māori speaker challenges Pakeha about their colonising and states that there is ‘[n]othing left to colonise now / Except the people’.
  • "A Proposition." Landfall 183 46.3 (Sept. 1992): 261. Rpt. in My Heart Goes Swimming: New Zealand Love Poems. Ed. Jenny Bornholdt and Gregory O’Brien. Auckland, N.Z.: Godwit, 1996. 80. Rpt. in Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 52.
  • The speaker warns a loved one that because the outcome of life is unsure they must enjoy each other while there is still time.
  • "Good Friday." Landfall 186 (New Series 1.2) (Nov. 1993): 291. Rpt. in Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 53. Rpt. in How Things Are. Adrienne Jansen, Harry Ricketts, J. C. Sturm and Meg Campbell. Porirua; Wellington, N.Z.: Whitireia; Daphne Brasell, 1996. 46.
  • On the occasion of Good Friday the poet recognises the presence of the gods Tawhirimatea and Tangaroa, and asserts that the ‘Old altars will be overturned,/Judgemental gods forsaken,’ and that the ‘sensual dream’ points to other truths and modes of redemption.
  • "The Orphans of Nilakottai." Kapiti Poems 7. Ed. Meg Campbell, Helen Durey and Maxine Montgomery. Pukerua Bay, N.Z.: Rawhiti; Whitireia; Daphne Brasell, 1994. 96. Rpt. in Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 23. How Things Are. Adrienne Jansen, Harry Ricketts, J. C. Sturm and Meg Campbell. Porirua; Wellington, N.Z.: Whitireia; Daphne Brasell, 1996. 40.
  • The speaker asserts that the orphans of Nilakottai do not need alms, empty prayers, false hope, judgement or salvation but rather need to be fed ‘[l]oaves and fishes’ and covered and adorned with wings and lilies.
  • "Under Threat." Hecate: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Women’s Liberation 20.2 (1994): 185. Rpt. in Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 26-27. How Things Are. Adrienne Jansen, Harry Ricketts, J. C. Sturm and Meg Campbell. Porirua; Wellington, N.Z.: Whitireia; Daphne Brasell, 1996. 48-49.
  • As a friend responds to the knowledge of her impending death with ‘a curious/Excitement’ the speaker is increasingly aware of her own fragile hold on survival.
  • Points of Departure: More Poems from Wellington’s Eastern Suburbs. Ed. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: K. Forrester, 1995.
  • "On The Building Site For A New Library." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 11-12.
  • The destruction of gardens to make way for the new library leaves Linda furious while the speaker reflects on the site’s previous use in earlier days and ponders on what may lie ahead.
  • "Letter to Jean in India." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 24-25.
  • A poem on the ambiguities and uncertainties of life.
  • "Travelling." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 28-29.
  • The poet acknowledges that her days of exotic overseas travel are now over and are replaced by the journeyings of the ‘interior landscape’ which is both familiar and ever-changing.
  • "In The Eye Of The Storm." ibid. 30. Rpt in How Things Are. Adrienne Jansen, Harry Ricketts, J. C. Sturm and Meg Campbell. Porirua; Wellington, N.Z.: Whitireia; Daphne Brasell, 1996. 41.
  • The speaker urges calm in the midst of a storm, noting that eventually the world will be remade and in the meantime the familiar landmarks remain constant.
  • "With Acknowledgments to Bertolucci." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 31-32.
  • The speaker recalls a night at the movies with John and likens the film character’s impotence to her own inability to comfort John and express herself clearly.
  • "Houses, Hills, Valleys." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 33-34.
  • Memories of old homes are recalled as the speaker reflects on a friend moving to another abode.
  • "To An Old Flame." ibid. 35-36. Rpt in How Things Are. Adrienne Jansen, Harry Ricketts, J. C. Sturm and Meg Campbell. Porirua: Wellington, N.Z.: Whitireia: Daphne Brasel Associated Press, 1996. 44-45.
  • The speaker shuns the easy familiarity of a former lover and refuses to salve the lover’s troubled conscience or engage in superficial flirtation.
  • "Spring Song." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 37-38.
  • The speaker acknowledges the pain of old wounds, disputes the meaningless sentiments of ‘time healing all’, and calls to be loved.
  • "Memo For A Forsaken Lover." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 39.
  • A recovery process for casualties of broken affairs.
  • "Forget Argentina." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 40-41.
  • The speaker reminds another of the emptiness and loneliness that followed the pursuit of the great causes of the 1960s and urges understanding of the components of real happiness
  • "Lioness." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 42.
  • The former bikie has now become a nurturing mother but within that role the poet notes the semblance of a lioness who is ever attuned to the scent of danger.
  • "Letter To John In Hospital." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 43-44.
  • The speaker reflects on the nature of mother-son relationships, love versus co-dependence and her responses to her son’s hospitalisation.
  • "For Steph on her 21st birthday." ibid. 45. Rpt in How Things Are. Adrienne Jansen, Harry Ricketts, J. C. Sturm and Meg Campbell. Porirua; Wellington, N.Z.: Whitireia; Daphne Brasell, 1996. 47.
  • The poet declares to Steph that no camera or focus button can ever capture the powerful impact of Steph’s birth twenty-one years ago.
  • "Coming of Age." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 46-47.
  • The speaker declares her coming of age and refusal to be confined any longer to the constraints of domesticity and ‘tyrannical/Occupation’.
  • "Before Dawn, Before Dark." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 54.
  • The speaker urges a loved one to stay close, to ease the hurts and to be ‘truly one/Until [their] short day is ended’.
  • "For The One Who Is Always With Us." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 59-61.
  • The poet writes of her different responses to death and grieving, and recalls her own brushes with death and the certainty that it will come to us all one day.
  • "Letter to K.M." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 62-63.
  • In this letter addressed to Katherine Mansfield the poet ponders on the death of a tramp in the Katherine Mansfield memorial park and questions whether his dream world was more nurturing and supportive than the ‘wasteland of want’ of his waking world.
  • "Passing Through." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 66.
  • On remembering the deaths of close family members, the speaker hopes that in her dying moments despite her current unbelief, God ‘will prise open / The eye of the needle / And let [her] pass through.’
  • "On Being Stopped By Monet On The Way To Work." ibid. 67-68. Rpt. in How Things Are. Adrienne Jansen, Harry Ricketts, J. C. Sturm and Meg Campbell. Porirua; Wellington, N.Z.: Whitireia; Daphne Brasell, 1996. 42-43.
  • In this poem dedicated to Frank Mackay, biographer of James K. Baxter, the poet writes of the strangeness of seeing a different view of something familiar by referring to a painting by Monet.
  • "Anniversary Day." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 74-75.
  • On the anniversary of her mother’s death, the poet contemplates the circumstances surrounding her mother dying only fifteen days after the poet’s birth, and imagines what it would have been like to have grown up with her mother.
  • "In Loco Parentis." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 76-77.
  • A portrait of the poet’s adoptive parents and the vicissitudes of their relationship with each other and the poet.
  • "Urgently." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. 81.
  • The speaker asks her deceased husband to guide her at her time of death to the safe place where they can be together for ever.
  • "Honestly." ibid. 82. Rpt. in How Things Are. Adrienne Jansen, Harry Ricketts, J. C. Sturm and Meg Campbell. Porirua; Wellington, N.Z.: Whitireia; Daphne Brasell, 1996. 53-54.
  • The speaker articulates her frustrations that her deceased husband is now ‘[s]afe and smug of the other side,’ while she is ‘[s]till stranded in the garden,’ perplexed and uncertain. She urges her husband to send her a sign to explain the meaning of life and future directions.
  • "Wintering." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. ibid. 83. Rpt. in How Things Are. Adrienne Jansen, Harry Ricketts, J. C. Sturm and Meg Campbell. Porirua; Wellington, N.Z.: Whitireia; Daphne Brasell, 1996. 56.
  • The poet writes of the pain and bleakness of loneliness.
  • "P.S. 22.10.91." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. ibid. 84. Rpt. in How Things Are. Adrienne Jansen, Harry Ricketts, J. C. Sturm and Meg Campbell. Porirua; Wellington, N.Z.: Whitireia; Daphne Brasell, 1996. 55.
  • With the death of a biographer, the speaker anticipates a veil of privacy over all the remaining untold stories.
  • "Untitled." Dedications. J. C. Sturm. Wellington, N.Z.: Steele Roberts, 1996. ibid. 85.
  • A short poem suggesting quiet after a storm and the assurance of life going on.
  • "As The Godwits Fly." ibid. 64-65. Rpt. in Wasafiri 25 (Spring 1997): 36.
  • On watching godwits preparing for their great northward migration the speaker recalls the first time she saw the birds migrate and wishes she could live her life again ‘Living it straight / As the godwits fly’.
  • "What I’d Like." Landfall 194 New Series 5.2 (Nov. 1997): 195-196.
  • The speaker reflects on death and burial.
  • "Let Go, Unlearn, Give Back." New Zealand Listener 15-21 Nov. 1997: 45.
  • A poem about relinquishment and moving on alone.
  • "New Year’s Eve 1997." New Zealand Listener 14-20 Feb. 1998: 49.
  • The poet ponders on past and future cataclysms in the atmosphere and their impact on the human race.
  • "After the Brodsky Quartet." New Zealand Listener 23-29 May, 1998. 48. Rpt. in Whetu Moana: Contemporary Poems in English. Ed. Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, 2003. 188-189.
  • The poet writes of a cellist’s private love affair with music.
  • "History Lesson." Whetu Moana: Contemporary Poems in English. Ed. Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, 2003. 189-190.
  • "At Times I Grieve." Whetu Moana: Contemporary Poems in English. Ed. Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, 2003. 191.
  • "Man Talk, Woman Talk." Whetu Moana: Contemporary Poems in English. Ed. Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, 2003. 191-192.
  • "Tangi." Whetu Moana: Contemporary Poems in English. Ed. Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, 2003.. 192-193.
  • "He Waiata Tēnei Mō Parihaka." Whetu Moana: Contemporary Poems in English. Ed. Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, 2003. 193-194.
  • "At a Colin McCahon Exhibition." Best New Zealand Poems 2006. http://www.nzetc.org/iiml/bestnzpoems/BNZP06/t1-g1-t1-body-d1.html 24 Apr. 2008.

  • Reviews

  • Rev. of Refutation of a Myth, by Antony Alpers. Numbers 2 (1954): 35-37.
  • Rev. of N.Z. Short Stories, selected by D. M. Davin. Te Ao Hou 10 (1955): 49.
  • Rev. of Hawera - A Social Survey, ed. A. A. Congalton. Te Ao Hou 10 (1955): 49.
  • Rev. of Cry the Beloved Country, and Too Late the Phalarope, by Paton. Te Ao Hou 11 (1955): 53.
  • Rev. of The Expatriate, a Study of Frances Hodgkins and New Zealand, by E. H. McCormick. Te Ao Hou 12 (1955): 56.
  • Rev. of The Emigrants, by George Lamming. Te Ao Hou 12 (1955). 56.
  • Cheri & the Last of Cheri, by Madame Coletter. Te Ao Hou 12 (1955): 56-57.
  • “Books on the South Pacific.” Te Ao Hou 15 (1956): 56-57.Sturm reviews four books which deal with life in the South Pacific: Queen Salote and Her Kingdom, by Sir Harry Luke; Ten Years in Tonga, by J. S. Neill; Doctor to the Islands, by Tom and Lydia Davis; and A Pattern of Islands, by Arthur Grimble.
  • Sturm reviews four books which deal with life in the South Pacific: Queen Salote and Her Kingdom, by Sir Harry Luke; Ten Years in Tonga, by J. S. Neill; Doctor to the Islands, by Tom and Lydia Davis; and A Pattern of Islands, by Arthur Grimble.
  • "More Books on the South Pacific: Tahiti Tuamoto New Zealand Auckland Island." Te Ao Hou 16 (1956): 56-57.
  • Reviews of Tahiti, by George T. Eggleston; The Happy Island, by Bengt Danielsson with English translation by F. H. Lyon; Islands of Contrast, by Beryl M. Miles; and Islands of Despair, by Allen W. Eden.
  • “Books about New Zealand.” Te Ao Hou 17 (1956): 53-54. Reviews of Adventure in New Zealand, by Edward Jerningham; Green Kiwi, by Temple Sutherland and Back-blocks Baby-Doctor: An Autobiography, by Doris Gordon.
  • Reviews of Adventure in New Zealand, by Edward Jerningham; Green Kiwi, by Temple Sutherland and Back-blocks Baby-Doctor: An Autobiography, by Doris Gordon.
  • Rev. of The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway. Te Ao Hou 18 (1957): 55-56.
  • “Remarkable Books by Negroes and Indians.” Te Ao Hou 19 (1957): 53-55. Sturm reviews A Brighter Sun, by Samuel Selvon; Nectar in a Sieve, by Kamala Markandaya; Go Tell It On the Mountain, by James Baldwin; and Blanket Boy’s Moon, by Peter Lanham and based on an original story by A. S. Mopeli-Paulus, Chieftain of Basutoland.
  • Sturm reviews A Brighter Sun, by Samuel Selvon; Nectar in a Sieve, by Kamala Markandaya; Go Tell It On the Mountain, by James Baldwin; and Blanket Boy’s Moon, by Peter Lanham and based on an original story by A. S. Mopeli-Paulus, Chieftain of Basutoland.
  • “Disappointed in the Natives.” Te Ao Hou 19 (1957): 55. A review of Jemmy Button by Benjamin Subercaseaux.
  • A review of Jemmy Button by Benjamin Subercaseaux.
  • "Old Māori Marriage Customs Come to Life in Scholarly Essay." Rev. of Māori Marriage: An Essay in Reconstruction, by Bruce Biggs. Te Ao Hou 37 (1961): 55-56.
  • "An Educational Book With A Difference." Rev. of In The Early World, by Elwyn S. Richardson. Te Ao Hou 53 (1965): 54-55.

  • Theses

  • "The New Zealand National Character as Exemplified by Three New Zealand Novelists." J. C. Baxter. M.A. thesis. U of Otago, 1952.

    Other

  • Te Ao Hou 46 (1964): 3.
  • Oxford History of New Zealand Literature In English. Ed. Terry Sturm. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1991. 243, 245-6, 249, 586.
  • "Her Own Voice." Jane Bowron. Sunday Star-Times 5 Jan. 1997. No further details.
  • Heim, Otto. Writing Along Broken Lines: Violence and Ethnicity in Contemporary Māori Fiction. Auckland, N.Z.: AUP, 1998.
  • Hewitson, Michele. "Ode to a Poet." N.Z. Herald 12 July 1997. No further.
  • Rabbitt, Lindsay. "Jim, Jacquie and Baxter." Listener 17 June 2000: 42-43.
  • Warr, Leanne. "A Poet In Her Own Right." Chronicle [Levin] 23 Aug. 1997: 3.
  • Wevers, Lydia. "Short Fiction by Māori writers." Commonwealth: Essays And Studies 16.2 (Spring 1994): 26-33.
  • Wood, Briar. "Between The Roses And The Taupata." Hecate: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Women’s Liberation 20.2 (1994): 175-182.
  • Erai, Michelle, Fuli, Everdina, Irwin, Kathie and Wilcox, Lenaire. Māori Women: An Annotated Bibliography. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Michelle Erai, Everdina Fuli, Kathie Irwin and Lenaire Wilcox, 1991. 2, 33.
  • Thomson, John. New Zealand Literature to 1977: A Guide to Information Sources. Vol. 30 in the American Literature, English Literature, and World Literatures in English Information Guide Series. Detroit, USA: Gale Research, 1980. 34-35.

  • Reviews

    Dedications
  • Allan, Guy. N.Z. Herald 29 Mar. 1997. No further details.
  • Baker, Hinemoana. City Voice 22 May 1997. No further details.
  • Ballara, Angela, Bernadette Hall, and Roger Kerr. "Books." Evening Post 27 Mar. 1997. 7.
  • Campbell, Alistair Te Ariki. "Candid Conversations." Printout 12 (Autumn 1997): 79-81.
  • Hall, Bernadette. "Laying It On The Line." Evening Post 27 Mar. 1997.
  • King, Michael. Metro [Auckland] May 1997. 108-111.
  • Laracy, Hugh, Guy Allan and Gordon McLauchlan. "Weekend Books." New Zealand Herald 29 Mar. 1997: G6-7.
  • McAlpine, Rachel. "Mood, Imagery And Messages." Kapiti Mail 13 Mar. 1997. No further details.
  • Millar, Paul. Landfall 194 New Series 5.2 (Nov. 1997): 377-382.
  • O’Leary, Michael. Kōkiri Paetae 12 (Oct. 1997): 17.
  • Sullivan, Robert. "Bridges To The Heart." New Zealand Listener Mar. 1-7, 1997: 49.
  • Thomson, Heidi. Dominion 5 Apr. 1997. No further details.
  • Worthington, Kim. "Obscurity v the life principle." New Zealand Books 7.3 (Aug. 1997): 5-6.
  • How Things Are
  • Eggleton, David. "Boxing the Compass." New Zealand Books 6.3 (Aug. 1996): 7-8.
  • Pirie, Mark. "Reviews." JAAM: Just Another Art Movement 5 (Summer 1996/1997): 115-116.
  • Postscripts
  • Neale, Emma. Evening Post 8 Sept. 2000: 5.
  • The House of the Talking Cat
  • Gadd, B. Landfall 38 (1984): 357-9.
  • Ihimaera, W. and M. Duckworth. Listener 17 Mar. 1984: 91-2.
  • Jones, Lawrence. "Reflections On A Bumper Year In Fiction." JNZL 3 (1985): 17-34.
  • Discussion of Sturm’s House of the Talking Hat on page 19.
  • Renée. Broadsheet 119 (1984): 43-4.