Jacqueline Cecilia Sturm (born Te Kare Papuni, also known as Jacquie Baxter; 17 May 1927 – 30 December 2009) was a New Zealand poet, short story writer and librarian.

She continued to write short stories and poetry well into the early 2000s, and is regarded today as a pioneer of New Zealand literature.

Her father, John Raymond Papuni, was part of the Whakatōhea iwi from Ōpōtiki in the Bay of Plenty region, and her mother, Mary Kingsley Harrison, was the daughter of Moewaka Tautokai, an adopted daughter of Taranaki chief Wiremu Kingi Moki Te Matakatea, and Te Whare Matangi Harrison, a nephew of the English novelist Charles Kingsley.

[1] In her late teens, she visited Māori communities in Urewera and the Bay of Plenty, where her father was from, and after this experience had ambitions of becoming a doctor.

[2] Reverend Manuhuia Bennett (later the Bishop of Aotearoa) was impressed by her educational achievements and was instrumental in encouraging her parents to allow her to enrol at the University of Otago.

[2][5]: 33  Her initial plan had been to study medicine, but despite earning strong grades, she narrowly missed out on entrance to the medical school due to admissions criteria favouring soldiers returned from the Second World War.

[2] Sturm had her first poem published in the student magazine Critic, and was a runner-up in an annual poetry competition to another young New Zealand poet, James K.

[7] In late 1947 Sturm moved to Canterbury University College in Christchurch to study anthropology under the well-known social psychologist Ivan Sutherland.

[6][5]: 36  Despite this parental opposition, Sturm and Baxter married on 9 December 1948 at the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Napier, then moved to Wellington.

[1] She featured regularly in both journals through the 1950s and 1960s,[1] and in 1966 C. K. Stead selected "For All the Saints" for inclusion in his anthology of New Zealand short stories published by the Oxford University Press.

However, read against the grain of thought that expected, in Sturm's words, all Māori "to become respectable middle-class citizens, a lighter shade of brown, as it were", it becomes clear that the society she depicts fosters inequality, and her work conveys a strong and poignant sense of alienation.

Her female narrators, although rarely defined by their race, are marginalised figures that give a vivid sense of the constriction and restrictions of a young woman's life in Wellington in the 1950s.In the 1950s and until 1968, Sturm was active in Ngāti Poneke, a local cultural club for young Māori, and the Māori Women's Welfare League.

[15] In late 1954, Baxter joined Alcoholics Anonymous, successfully achieving sobriety, and in 1955, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Victoria University College.

[1][3]: 9 In 1982, well-known New Zealand author Witi Ihimaera selected two of Sturm's stories for inclusion in his anthology of Māori writing, Into the World of Light (1982).

[10][22] A review in The Press noted that although written and set in the 1960s, "the stories retain an appeal partly because of the author's descriptive talent [and] because of her insight into people".

[24] A review of the 1986 edition observed that the stories "are tautly crafted, detailed, and perceptive", and that New Zealand literature was poorer for Sturm's absence in the intervening years.

[25] It was commercially successful and critically acclaimed,[7] with poet Robert Sullivan calling it "a defining moment in New Zealand poetry".

[29] As a lecturer in English at Palmerston North University College, Alcock had advocated for New Zealand literature and promoted its study overseas.

[35] Sturm was a pioneer of New Zealand literature, and paved the way for later female Māori writers like Patricia Grace and Keri Hulme.

[1] In an obituary, New Zealand poet and scholar Paul Millar wrote: "Her output may seem modest on paper, but it becomes substantial when set against the obstacles placed before her as a woman, wife, and mother and, for many years, her family’s primary earner.

Although Jacquie Baxter never wanted to be a role model, she never shirked her responsibility as a voice for Maori people and a campaigner against racial inequality.

Her life and writing are testament to a woman of great integrity and quiet courage who helped clear the path that younger writers have followed to greater success and recognition.

[38] In February 2021, the website Poetry Shelf published an audio recording of New Zealand poet Karlo Mila reading her poem "Letter to J.C. Sturm" from her collection Goddess Muscle (2020).