Peter Alan Simpson was born in Takaka in 1942. He attended Nelson College. He gained a MA (Hons) from the University of Canterbury and a PhD from the University of Toronto with a 1975 thesis titled 'Wordsworth to Hardy : lines of relationship and continuity in nineteenth century English poetry' . He was a member of Parliament (representing Lyttleton) from 1987-1990. Peter Simpson is a former associate professor of English at the University of Auckland. He retired from this position in 2008. He received the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement (non-fiction) in 2017. In 2020, Simpson was conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Canterbury. Sources: Auckland University Press & Wikipedia