Roger Robinson

Roger Derek Robinson (born 1939) is a New Zealand academic, essayist, editor, runner, sportswriter, and sports commentator. Robinson earned his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and moved to New Zealand in 1968, where he became an English professor at Victoria University of Wellington. He has expertise in New Zealand literature (co-editing The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature in 1998) and literature and journalism relating to running. He has written and edited several books about running, including When Running Made History (2018), and received awards for his sporting journalism. As a runner, he competed internationally from 1966 to 1995 and won marathons at a Masters level in the 1980s. Early life and literary career Robinson was born in Sutton Coldfield on 1939, and grew up in London. He earned a master's degree and PhD from the University of Cambridge, and moved to New Zealand in 1968, becoming a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1977. He became a lecturer at the University of Canterbury. In 1975 he was appointed professor of English at Victoria University in Wellington. He served as dean and vice-chancellor of the university, and head of the English department, during his tenure. For many years, from the 1980s onwards, he divided his time between New Zealand and the United States, holding visiting academic positions at New York University and the Newberry Library in Chicago. In 1981 he founded the first academic journal for New Zealand literature, the Journal of New Zealand Literature, and its first issue was published in 1983. Together with Nelson Wattie, Robinson edited The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature (1998), and himself contributed over 300 entries. It has been described by academic Alan Riach as "indispensable" and a "masterpiece". In 2003 he edited Robert Louis Stevenson: His Best Pacific Writings which was a finalist for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2004. His work has been published in Landfall, The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, The Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Poetry (1996) and Readings in Pacific Literature (1993). Robinson's 2003 book Running in Literature was the first to discuss running as a subject in literature. He was the scriptwriter for running documentary Marathon: A Hero's Journey (Cultural Horizons, 1990). In 2001 he was listed as an outstanding American sportswriter in The Best American Sports Writing.