Lloyd Jones
New Zealand literature in the latter half of the twentieth century developed a distinct voice, shaped by writers who drew on the country's geographic and cultural distance from the dominant centres of English-language publishing. Lloyd Jones, born in Lower Hutt on 23 March 1955, emerged from that context as a novelist, writer, and children's writer working in English.
Jones was educated at Hutt Valley High School and Victoria University of Wellington. His work spans novels and writing for younger readers, a range that places him across more than one form of fiction. Among his notable works is Mister Pip, a novel that stands as the most cited title associated with his name.
The recognition Jones has received reflects sustained engagement with his output. He was awarded the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction and was made a Fellow of the Academy of New Zealand Literature. These two honours mark the formal standing his work has achieved within New Zealand's literary institutions.
Quotes by Lloyd Jones
I could have run after him. I could have asked politely for some clarification. But I didn’t I knew what I preferred, and that was – I didn’t want to know. Rather, I wanted to believe.
Dreams are nervy things – all it takes is for one stern word to be spoken in their direction and they shrivel up and die.
I do not know what you are supposed to do with memories likes these. It feels wrong to want to forget. Perhaps this is why we write these things down, so we can move on.
We have all lost our possessions and many of us our homes," he said. "But these losses, severe though they may seem, remind us of what no person can take, and that is our minds and our imaginations.
The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed.
The man who tries to do something and fails is infinitely better than he who tries to do nothing and succeeds.
He said, 'Coach, I've trained too hard to lose.' To have that type of attitude is amazing.
If you have tried to do something and failed, you are vastly better off than if you had tried to do nothing and succeeded.