Alistair Paterson is an internationally recognised poet, prose writer, editor, anthologist and critic and formerly a long-term editor of Poetry New Zealand.  In 2006 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature. He has been a naval officer, a senior public servant and an inspector of technical institutes and community colleges. His latest publication is the memoir Passant, a Journey to Elsewhere (Austin Macauley, London).