Neville Peat was presented with the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement on Thursday after it was announced he would be a recipient earlier this month along with Lynley Dodd and Apirana Taylor (Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Ruanui).
Mr Peat was presented with the award by Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith.
The award is given to New Zealand writers who have made a notable contribution to New Zealand literature.
"It’s slightly dawning on me that it’s really important. It’s not just to do with me, but I think for those who write on nature and natural processes and ecosystems."
For the past 10 years, he knew there was the "potential" he might get the award, but that did not make it any less surprising, he said.
He started writing books in the late 1970s and specialises in natural history, notably of southern New Zealand and New Zealand’s subantarctic islands.
He has written 56 books and pinpointed The Lark Trilogy as the one he was most proud of.
"It is an exercise in creative non-fiction writing and featuring a farmhand who’s a blade shearer of sheep called The Lark."
Despite being 77 years old, he continued to write, he said.
At present he was writing an "island memoir", about his interest in the islands of New Zealand, he said.
It focused on Ross Island in Antarctica and Tokelau in the South Pacific Ocean.
"I set out to tell stories about them, which gave me a freedom to range widely with what I could fit in around [the story].
"I’m really pleased with that."
He has been both a Dunedin city and Otago regional councillor in the past.
In 2016, he stood down from his role as a city councillor in order to complete the book The Invading Sea due to its importance to him, he said.
"There have been quite some big titles coming through and talking of the environment.
"In recent times The Invading Sea, which is about climate change, was an important thing for me to get out actually."
Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa chairman Kent Gardener said the recipients embodied the spirit of the award.
"Neville Peat’s natural history writing is compelling for the combination of analytic rigour and passion for the environment," he said.
