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Dan Davin Literary Foundation |
Dan Davin was born in Invercargill in 1913. Dan won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University in 1935 and graduated with first class honours in 1939. During WW2 he was a platoon commander in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Forces in Crete. He also served on Freyberg's intelligence staff in North Africa, and as a corp commander at Cassino. He was awarded a military MBE. Dan Davin published seven novels with universal themes, often involving New Zealanders; collections of short stories; a volume of war history and literary critiques. He was awarded an Otago honorary doctorate in 1984 and in 1987, and a CBE. The Dan Davin Literary Foundation follows the Davin tradition of supporting New Zealand writers. In 1995 the first Dan Davin short story competition was held. The Dan Davin Literary Foundation holds annual workshops and awards for students in the Community Trust of Southland region, which includes Queenstown and West Otago. The current
awards are for year 12 or 13 students whose home or school is in this region.
The Dan Davin Literary Workshops are usually held in May or June while the awards are held in
September. Rebecca Amundsen |