David Ballantyne

David Watt Ballantyne (14 June 1924 – 24 February 1986) was a New Zealand journalist, novelist and short story writer.

Ballantyne was born in Auckland, New Zealand on 14 June 1924.^[1] He was Māori affiliated to the iwi Ngāti Uenukukōpako and Ngāti Hinepare of Te Arawa.^[2]

After a brief episode in the military and after not completing his medical studies, he began his career as a journalist at the Auckland Star. In 1948, he published his first novel, The Cunninghams in the United States. He finished Freeman’s Bay, a novel about Auckland working-class life, in 1950, but it was not accepted by either his American or his New Zealand publisher.^[1]

Ballantyne married the painter Jean Vivienne Margaret Heise in 1950, with whom he had a son. In 1954 he moved with his family to London, where he continued working as a journalist and author. In 1966, the family returned to New Zealand.

Ballantyne died at his home in Ponsonby in inner-city Auckland in 1986.^[1]

He published eight novels, of which the first The Cunninghams and the fifth, Sydney Bridge Upside Down are recognised as New Zealand literary classics.^{[citation needed]}

Sydney Bridge Upside Down was adapted by director James Ashcroft into a stage-play for Taki Rua and presented at the Hannah Playhouse in 2013. ^[3]

His great-grandmother was Hēni Te Kiri Karamu.^[2]

• The Cunninghams (1948)
• The Last Pioneer (1963)
• A Friend of the Family (1966)
• Sydney Bridge Upside Down (1968)
• The Talkback Man (1978)
• The Penfriend (1980)
• And the Glory (1983)

• David Ballantynel (novelist)
• The Last Pioneer (novel)

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