27 Facts About Frank Sargeson

Frank Sargeson became an influential figure in New Zealand writing, and his work continues to be recognised as a major influence on New Zealand literature.

Frank Sargeson is known for his minimalist and sparse style, with a focus on unhappy and isolated male characters, and has been credited with introducing everyday New Zealand English to literature.

Frank Sargeson published over forty short stories in the 1930s and 1940s, and later works included novels, plays and autobiographies.

Frank Sargeson mentored and supported other young New Zealand writers, most notably Janet Frame.

Frank Sargeson was born in Hamilton, New Zealand on 23 March 1903, the second of four children.

Frank Sargeson attended Hamilton West School followed by Hamilton High School.

Frank Sargeson began writing short stories in the late 1920s.

Frank Sargeson returned to New Zealand in 1928 and was unable to find work either as a solicitor or as a journalist.

Frank Sargeson was eventually hired as a clerk by the Public Trust Office in Wellington, where he worked for 15 months.

In May 1931, Frank Sargeson took permanent residence in his parents' holiday cottage in Takapuna.

Frank Sargeson was to remain at the bach as a full-time writer for most of the rest of his life.

Frank Sargeson began to grow fruit and vegetables and to take in people who were struggling financially or on the social fringes of society, who he described as the "odds-and-ends kind of people I tend naturally to cherish and try to comfort".

Frank Sargeson began to establish a reputation in the writing world from 1935 onwards, with short stories contributed to the left-wing magazine Tomorrow.

In late 1939, Frank Sargeson was diagnosed with surgical tuberculosis, which meant he was excused from conscription in World War II and eligible for an invalid's benefit.

Frank Sargeson was receiving international attention, with his work appearing in journals in Australia, the UK and the USA, in John Lehmann's anthologies and periodicals such as Penguin New Writing.

Frank Sargeson had little money this time but managed to persuade his father to gift the property to him.

In 1949, Frank Sargeson published his first full-length novel, I Saw in My Dream.

Frank Sargeson continued to nurture and promote New Zealand literary talent, as he had with Speaking for Ourselves, most notably by inviting the young author and poet Janet Frame to live in the former army hut on his property in 1955, not long after her discharge from Seacliff Lunatic Asylum.

Frank Sargeson lived and worked in the army hut from April 1955 to July 1956, producing her first full-length novel Owls Do Cry, which is considered a masterpiece of New Zealand writing.

Frank Sargeson was a friend and mentor to other young writers such as Maurice Duggan and John Reece Cole.

Frank Sargeson extended his friendship to the young architect Renate Prince, who boarded with Frank Sargeson in the former army hut prior to Frame's residence.

In 1953, to mark Sargeson's fiftieth birthday, Landfall published "A Letter to Frank Sargeson", written and signed by sixteen of his fellow New Zealand writers, including Frame, Duggan, David Ballantyne, Bill Pearson, Helen Lilian Shaw and others.

In 1974 Frank Sargeson received a Scholarship in Letters from the New Zealand Literary Fund and an honorary doctorate of literature from the University of Auckland.

Frank Sargeson continued to write and publish short fiction until 1980, when his health began to decline.

Frank Sargeson died at North Shore Hospital in Auckland in 1982.

In 1990, Frank Sargeson's ashes were scattered on the property, and a sign was put up outside the bach stating: "Here a truly New Zealand literature had its beginnings".

In 2024, the Alexander Turnbull Library's Frank Sargeson Collection, comprising Sargeson's draft manuscripts, personal papers and photographs, was inscribed in UNESCO Memory of the World Aotearoa New Zealand Nga Mahara o te Ao register.