Michael Harlow. Photo: ODT
Mr Harlow, currently overseas, is a regular guest at international literary festivals.
A former Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellow and Robert Burns Fellow, he has published 10 volumes of poetry.
As an editor, Mr Harlow published early works by some leading New Zealand poets, including Michele Leggott, Gregory O'Brien, Murray Edmond, and Bernadette Hall.
He has also worked as a librettist in collaboration with composer Kit Powell, and the due have had works performed here and in Switzerland, Germany, France, and Russia.
Mr Harlow and his fellow recipients - author and playwright Renee and critic and curator Wystan Curnow - each receive $60,000.
The awards will be presented at a ceremony at Premier House in Wellington on October 15.
