Gregory O'Brien

O'Brien in 2014

Gregory Leo O’Brien MNZM (born 1961) is a New Zealand poet, painter and editor.

Life[]

Born in Matamata in 1961, O'Brien trained as a journalist in Auckland and worked as a newspaper reporter in Northland. He graduated from the University of Auckland.^[1]

His work has appeared in Islands, Landfall, Sport, Meanjin and Scripsi. He lives in Wellington.

Awards and honours[]

• 1988 Sargeson Fellowship
• 1995 Victoria University Writing Fellow
• 1997 Landfall Essay Competition
• 1997 Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry
• 2005 LIANZA Elsie Locke Non-Fiction Award
• 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Award for Reference and Anthology
• 2012 Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement^[2]

In the 2014 New Year Honours, O'Brien was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the arts.^[3]

Works[]

• "Rocks, Te Namu Pa, Taranaki"; "Untitled"; "Beausoleil", "European", Shearsman 59
• "Printmaking Studio of John Drawbridge, Island Bay, Wellington", Shearsman 67/68
• "Wet Jacket Arm", Jacket 35, Early 2008
• Location of the Least Person (opening with the ‘Old Man South Road’ sequence), was published in Auckland in 1987
• Dunes and Barns (1988)
• Man with a Child’s Violin (1990)
• Great Lake (Sydney, 1991)
• Malachi, a charming verse novella (Adelaide, 1993)
• Days Beside Water, Auckland in 1993
• Winter I Was (Victoria University Press, 1999)
• Afternoon of an Evening Train (Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2005)

Novel[]

• Diesel Mystic (1989),

Anthologies[]

• Vincent O'Sullivan, ed. (1987). An Anthology of twentieth century New Zealand poetry. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-558163-8.

Criticism[]

• "Running Dog The Poetry of Ken Bolton", Sport 16: Autumn 1996
• After Bathing At Baxter's, Victoria University Press, 2002.
• News of the Swimmer Reaches Shore (Carcanet Press, Manchester, 2007)
• A Nest of Singing Birds: 100 Years of the New Zealand School Journal (Learning Media Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand, 2007)

Editor[]

• Jenny Bornholdt; Gregory O'Brien; Mark Williams, eds. (1997). An anthology of New Zealand poetry in English. Oxford University Press New Zealand. ISBN 978-0-19-558338-0.

References[]

External links[]

• "Gregory O'Brien", Scottish Poetry Library
• "O'Brien, Gregory ", Aotearoa New Zealand Poetry Sound Archive