Meg, November 2006
photos courtesy of Pat Reesby
When I contacted Meg’s daughter asking for a brief bio Mary replied, “If you were to ask Mum what she would have done differently if she were to live her life over she would have said ‘nothing, I would change nothing! ‘I’ve had a good life.”
Meg Campbell grew up in Palmerston North, and studied acting in Wellington before meeting her husband Alistair Campbell in 1958. Meg published six poetry collections, beginning with The Way Back, which won the PEN Award for the Best First Book of Poetry in 1982. Poems Adrift, came out on 17 November 2007, a day after she died at home, and two days before her 70th birthday. It’s Love Isn’t It, a joint collection of love poems by Meg Campbell and Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, was published in 2008.
Bellamys at Five 
Here is a correction of details regarding Meg Campbell. Mum died on the 17th November and we launched her book on Nov 18th a day after she died. We decided to have the book launch so people were very surprised when they came to the launch and Mum wasn’t there. Mum died at home early in the morning as the sun came up.