Honorary doctorate for popular author

It's not often Tessa Duder is lost for words, but the author, editor and playwright admits to being "gobsmacked" when she got word she was being awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Waikato.Gobsmacked and honoured.

"It's a huge honour, especially when I see the other writers who’ve been awarded before me – Janet Frame, Don Stafford, Maurice Gee, Margaret Mahy, Michael King. I’m moved and flattered," she says.

Tessa Duder was Waikato University's first writer in residence, appointed in 1991. During that year, based in the university's English Department, she completed books three and four in her Alex Quartet; books that have become New Zealand children's classics. "That year was a watershed year for me. I was wonderfully welcomed, and without a university background I found it stimulating having access to university life, the library and the general ambience of the place. I not only wrote every day but also appeared on stage in the university production of Twelfth Night. I relished that experience too because I hadn't been on stage for about 30 years."

Read the full report from the University of Waikato News online.

Warmest congratulations Tessa.