New Zealand poet, author, and radio dramatist whose best-known works include The Fallen House and Jack Winter's Dream. Several of his works, including The Bone Chanter and Horse: A Novel, were published after his death.
He started writing poetry when he was seven years old and published his first collection, Beyond the Palisades, when he was only seventeen.
He traveled widely throughout Asia and caught dysentery; later, he lived on an Auckland commune.
He married Jacqueline Sturm, with whom he had a son. Baxter's divorce was finalized in 1957 as a result of his conversion from his wife's Anglican faith to Catholicism.
His early poetry was greatly influenced by the work of Dylan Thomas.
