David Ballantyne

David Watt Ballantyne (born June 14, 1924 in Auckland , † February 24, 1986 in Auckland City ) was a New Zealand writer and journalist .

Life

David Ballantyne is one of New Zealand's most famous writers. As a child he lived in the port city of Hicks Bay, in Rotorua and later in Gisborne , where he broke off his school career at the age of 15 after the death of his father.

After a brief episode in the military and dropping out of medical school, he began his career as a journalist with the Auckland Star. In 1948 his first novel The Cunninghams was published in the United States. In 1950 he married the painter Vivienne Jean Margaret Heise, with whom he had a son. In 1954 he moved with his family to London, where he continued to work as a journalist and author. In 1966 the family returned to New Zealand. Ballantyne died in 1986 at his home in Ponsonby, Auckland City.

He published a total of eight novels, of which only his fifth, Sydney Bridge Upside Down , was also published in German 44 years after its first publication.

Works (selection)

• The Cunninghams , 1948
• The last pioneer , 1963
• A friend of the family , 1966
• Sydney Bridge Upside Down , 1968
  • German: Sydney Bridge Upside Down. From New Zealand. English by Gregor Hens . Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-455-40372-5
• The talkback man , 1979, ISBN 0-908564-18-X
• The penfriend , 1980, ISBN 0-908564-50-3

Web links

• Literature by and about David Ballantyne in the catalog of the German National Library
• The author's biography in the Encyclopedia of New Zealand
• Publisher information on the author and work at Hoffmann and Campe