Geoff Chapple (writer)

{{Infobox writer | name = Geoff Chapple | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=85%}} | image = Miriam Beatson and Geoff Chapple - the launch of 'Temptation Island' by author Graeme Lay at Takapuna Library, The Strand..jpg | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = Chapple with wife Miriam Beatson in 2000 | pseudonym = | birth_name = Geoffrey John Chapple | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1944}} | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | resting_place = | occupation = {{Cslist |Author |journalist}} | language = New Zealand English | nationality = {{NZL}} | education = | period = | genre =  | subject =  | movement = | notable_works = ''Te Araroa: the New Zealand trail'' (2002) | spouse = Miriam Beatson | children = 3 | relatives = {{plainlist}} *James Chapple (grandfather) *Maurice Gee (cousin) {{endplainlist}} | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | years_active = }}

'''Geoffrey John Chapple''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=85%}} (born 1944)<ref>{{cite web |title=Chapple, Geoffrey John, (Geoff), 1944- |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/31904804 |website=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref> is a New Zealand author and journalist. He conceived and founded Te Araroa, a walking track the length of New Zealand.

==Life and career== Chapple grew up in West Auckland and attended Henderson High School.<ref name="Gale">{{cite journal |last1=Gale |first1=Josh |title=The long path of a Chapple |journal=Wilderness Magazine |date=12 May 2011 |url=https://www.wildernessmag.co.nz/long-path-chapple/ |access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref> He began his journalism career writing for student magazine ''Craccum'' at the University of Auckland, and was appointed as editor in March 1967 whilst also working as journalist for the ''Auckland Star''.<ref name="Gale" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Craccum editorship is now firmly finalised |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Salient30031967-t1-body-d28.html |work=Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper |issue=30.3 |date=31 March 1967 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170723182343/http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Salient30031967-t1-body-d28.html |archive-date=23 July 2017 |page=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=He's Number One |url=http://www.thebookshelf.auckland.ac.nz/docs/Craccum/1967/craccum-1967-041-001.pdf |access-date=29 December 2020 |work=Craccum |issue=41.1 |publisher=Auckland University Students Association |date=2 March 1967 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In 1974, Chapple was a founding member of the music group From Scratch.<ref>{{cite web |title=From Scratch: 555 Moons: Documents |url=https://citygallery.org.nz/documents/from-scratch-555-moons-documents/ |website=City Gallery Wellington |access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Hill |first1=Kim |title=Phil Dadson: soundtracks of delight |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/201836268/phil-dadson-soundtracks-of-delight |access-date=2 December 2020 |work=Radio New Zealand |date=11 March 2017}}</ref> One of the group's well-known pieces was ''Pacific 3-2-1-Zero'', a percussive piece written in 1981 in protest against nuclear testing and waste dumping in the Pacific Ocean. A 1993 film of the piece won the Grand Prix at the Midem Visual Music Awards in 1994.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pacific 3-2-1-Zero |url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/pacific-3-2-1-zero-1993?collection=protest |website=NZ On Screen Iwi Whitiāhua |access-date=29 December 2020}}</ref>

Chapple was one of the writers of ''Gung Ho – Rewi Alley of China'', a documentary filmed in 1979 about famous New Zealand writer and political activist Rewi Alley, and its companion documentary ''The Humble Force''. Chapple subsequently wrote a biography about Alley that was published in 1980.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gung Ho - Rewi Alley of China |url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/gung-ho-rewi-alley-of-china-1979 |website=NZ On Screen Iwi Whitiāhua |access-date=29 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Humble Force |url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/the-humble-force-1980 |website=NZ On Screen Iwi Whitiāhua |access-date=29 December 2020}}</ref> In 1997, he co-wrote the libretto for an opera in two acts called ''Alley'', with music by Jack Body, which premiered at the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts in 1998.<ref name="King">{{cite web |title=Geoff Chapple: 2005 Inaugural Writers Residency |url=https://writerscentre.org.nz/geoff-chapple-inaugural-writers-residency-2005/ |website=Michael King Writers' Centre |access-date=29 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Alley: opera in two acts based on the life of Rewi Alley |url=https://sounz.org.nz/works/15180 |website=SOUNZ: Centre for New Zealand Music |access-date=29 December 2020}}</ref>

Chapple was a leading figure in the anti-apartheid protests surrounding the 1981 springbok rugby tour.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McDougall |first1=Hamish |title="The whole world's watching": New Zealand, International Opinion, and the 1981 Springbok Rugby Tour |journal=Journal of Sport History |date=2018 |volume=45 |issue=2 |page=204 |doi=10.5406/jsporthistory.45.2.0202 |s2cid=166020449 |url=https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/100966/ |access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Remembering '81 protest |url=http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/local-news/20190720/remembering-81-protest/ |access-date=2 December 2020 |work=Gisborne Herald |date=20 July 2019}}</ref> In 1984, Chapple published ''1981: The Tour'', a book chronicling the events from the protesters' perspective.

Chapple co-wrote the script for ''The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey'', an acclaimed 1988 fantasy film directed by Vincent Ward. In 1989, he shared the award for Best Original Screenplay with Ward and co-writer Kely Lyons at the New Zealand Film Awards.<ref name="NZOS">{{cite web |title=Geoff Chapple |url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/geoff-chapple |website=NZ On Screen Iwi Whitiāhua |access-date=29 December 2020}}</ref>

In 1990, Chapple received the Sargeson Fellowship, one of New Zealand's leading literary awards.<ref>{{cite web |title=Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship |url=https://www.grimshaw.co.nz/about-us/grimshaw-sargeson-fellowship/ |website=Grimshaw & Co |access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref>

In 1994, in an article in the ''Sunday Star-Times'', Chapple proposed the creation of a walking track from New Zealand's northernmost point at Cape Reinga to its southernmost point at Bluff.<ref name="GG">{{cite web |title=Speech: Te Araroa - The Long Pathway opening |url=https://gg.govt.nz/publications/te-araroa-long-pathway-opening |access-date=2 December 2020 |website=The Governor-General of New Zealand |publisher=New Zealand Government |date=3 December 2011}}</ref><ref name="Yeld">{{cite news |last1=Yeld |first1=John |title=Te Araroa: Take a very long hike |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/te-araroa-take-a-very-long-hike/IMUMTJRMVD2BS6OSGZCE4XW2ME/ |access-date=2 December 2020 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=5 September 2001}}</ref> He began the volunteer movement to put in place a New Zealand-long walking track and founded Te Araroa Trust, the organisation that began construction of the various links for a continuous off-road track 2,920 kilometres long. He mapped the track, then walked it and wrote the book ''Te Araroa – The New Zealand Trail'' (Random House 2002), which won the Environment category at the Montana Book Awards in 2003.<ref>{{cite web |title=Past Winners: 2003 |url=https://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/past-winners/?year=2003 |website=New Zealand Book Awards |access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref>

Chapple was the first resident at the Michael King Writers Centre on the slopes of Mount Victoria when it opened in 2005.<ref name="King" /> While in residence, he wrote a play called ''Hatch, or the Plight of the Penguins'', which was produced by the Auckland Theatre Company and toured New Zealand and Tasmania from 2007 to 2010.<ref name="Penguin Bio">{{cite web |title=Geoff Chapple |url=https://www.penguin.co.nz/authors/geoff-chapple |website=Penguin Books New Zealand |access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Ward-Smythe |first1=Kate |title=Rant and rave a treat to watch |url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=626 |access-date=2 December 2020 |work=Theatreview |date=18 March 2007}}</ref>

In the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours, Chapple was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to tramping, tourism and literature.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-and-diamond-jubilee-honours-list-2012 |title=Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee honours list 2012 |date=4 June 2012 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |accessdate=6 June 2019}}</ref> In 2013, he won the CLNZ Writers' Award for his project ''Terrain''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.copyright.co.nz/about/governance-and-policies|title=Governance, Policies & Annual Report: 2013 Annual Report|last=|first=|date=|website=Copyright Licensing New Zealand|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=3 February 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://copyright.co.nz/about/news-and-event/geoff-chapple-and-margaret-pointer-win-the-2013-clnz-writers-awards|title=Geoff Chapple and Margaret Pointer win the 2013 CLNZ Writers' Awards|last=|first=|date=5 September 2013|website=Copyright Licensing New Zealand|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=3 February 2019}}</ref>

==Personal life== Chapple is a grandson of James Chapple, controversial Unitarian minister and pacifist, and a cousin of novelist Maurice Gee.<ref name="Gale" />

Chapple and his wife Miriam have three children.<ref name="Gale" /> His son Amos is a photojournalist,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Olds |first1=Jeremy |title=The amazing world of Kiwi photojournalist Amos Chapple |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/80886582/the-amazing-world-of-kiwi-photojournalist-amos-chapple |access-date=29 December 2020 |work=Stuff.co.nz |date=9 June 2016}}</ref> his older daughter Polly is a digital design and transformation manager,{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} and his younger daughter Irene is a journalist and filmmaker.<ref>{{cite news |title=Interview Journalist, filmaker [sic] Irene Chapple |url=https://devonportflagstaff.co.nz/interview-journalist-filmaker-irene-chapple/ |access-date=29 December 2020 |work=Devonport Flagstaff |date=3 October 2019}}</ref>

==Selected works== * {{cite book | title=Rewi Alley of China, that tells the story of Rewi's life-time contribution to humanity in China | publisher=Hodder & Stoughton| year=1980 | location=Auckland | isbn=0-340-25687-7}} * {{cite book | title=1981 : The Tour | publisher=A H & A W Reed | year=1984 | location=Wellington |isbn=978-0589015343}} * {{cite book |title=South |date=1986 |publisher=Hodder and Stoughton |location=Auckland |isbn=978-0-3404-0108-8}} * {{cite book |title=Edge of the Earth: stories and images from the Antipodes |date=1990 |publisher=Heinemann Reed |isbn=978-0-7900-0146-3}} (co-authored with Vincent Ward, Louis Nowra and Alison Carter) * {{cite book |title=Te Araroa: the New Zealand trail |date=2002 |publisher=Random House New Zealand |location=Auckland. |isbn=978-1-8694-1537-2}} * {{cite book | title=Terrain : Travels through a Deep Landscape | publisher=Random House New Zealand| year=2015 | location= Auckland | isbn=978-1-77553-679-6}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.teararoa.org.nz/ Te Araroa: New Zealand's trail], official website *[https://culturalicons.co.nz/01-geoff-chapple/ First interview with Geoff Chapple] for [http://culturalicons.co.nz/ Cultural Icons] project. Audio. *[https://culturalicons.co.nz/36-geoff-chapple-2/ Second interview with Geoff Chapple] for Cultural Icons project. Audio. *[https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/201789194/geoff-chapple-life-and-influences Interview with Geoff Chapple] by Radio New Zealand, February 2016. Audio.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapple, Geoff}} Category:New Zealand journalists Category:Living people Category:Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit Category:1944 births Category:20th-century New Zealand male writers Category:21st-century New Zealand male writers Category:People educated at Henderson High School, Auckland