Sarah Broom

Sarah Broom (1972–2013) was a New Zealand poet and university lecturer. Her work included two books of poetry, Tigers at Awhitu (published jointly in England and New Zealand) and Gleam. After her early death from lung cancer, the Sarah Broom Poetry Prize, was established to remember and celebrate her life and work.

Biography Sarah Kathryn Broom was born in 1972 in Dunedin. She grew up in Christchurch and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English and psychology from the University of Canterbury. studying contemporary British and Irish poetry. She lectured at Somerville College, Oxford. They returned to New Zealand in 2000. She took up a post-doctoral fellowship at Massey University in Albany and then lectured in English at the University of Otago.

Her poetry was published both in New Zealand, in journals such as Bravado, Landfall, Poetry New Zealand and Takahe, and in England in Acumen, Metre, Orbis and Oxford Magazine.

Sarah Broom was married and had three children.

Awards and prizes After her death, and at the posthumous launch of her poetry collection Gleam, the Sarah Broom Poetry Prize was announced. This prize was established by her husband and friends to celebrate poetry in New Zealand and to encourage and support the recipient to complete a manuscript of poems.

The judging panel for the first award included Paula Green, Sarah Ross, Jennifer Crawford, Pat Palmer and Michael Gleissner. The guest judge, poet Sam Hunt, awarded the inaugural prize to winner C.K. Stead on 17 May 2014 at the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival. Gleam (Auckland University Press, 2013)