Pat Lawlor was a journalist, novelist, poet, pamphleteer and Catholic publicist. As a journalist, he wrote for many of the newspapers in Wellington. He was founder of the 'New Zealand Artists' Annual' in 1926 and the Ex Libris Society in 1930.

During the 1930s, he wrote several novels, as well as non-fiction, with his 'Confessions of a Journalist' (1935), being an important source of literary gossip and historical detail from the period. Lawlor was the driving force behind the foundation of PEN in New Zealand, and was its president in 1948-9.

After leading an opposition to the generation of new writers, he was converted to their point of view by James K Baxter, and later based a book, 'The Two Baxters: Diary Notes' on their friendship. He was awarded an OBE in 1976 and has a street on Mount Victoria named after him.
See http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Writers/Profiles/Lawlor,%20Pat .