Sir

Vincent O'Sullivan

KNZM
O'Sullivan in 2022
O'Sullivan in 2022
BornVincent Gerard O'Sullivan
(1937-09-28) 28 September 1937
Auckland, New Zealand
OccupationWriter
Alma materUniversity of Oxford

Sir Vincent Gerard O'Sullivan KNZM (born 28 September 1937) is one of New Zealand's best-known writers. He is a poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, critic, editor, biographer, and librettist.

Early life and family

Born in Auckland,[1] O'Sullivan is the youngest of six children born to Timothy O'Sullivan (born in Tralee, Ireland) and Myra O'Sullivan (née McKean). He was educated at St Joseph's Primary, Grey Lynn, and Sacred Heart College, Auckland, in Glendowie. He graduated from the University of Auckland and the University of Oxford.

O'Sullivan's first marriage was to Tui Rererangi Walsh, with whom he had two children; Dominic O'Sullivan and Deirdre O'Sullivan. He now lives in Port Chalmers, Dunedin, with his wife Helen.[2]

Career

O'Sullivan lectured at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) from 1963 to 1966, and the University of Waikato between 1968 and 1978).[3] He served as literary editor of the NZ Listener from 1979 to 1980, and then between 1981 and 1987 won a series of writer’s residencies and research fellowships in universities in Australia and New Zealand: VUW, University of Tasmania, Deakin University (Geelong), Flinders University in Adelaide, University of Western Australia, and University of Queensland.[3] These were interrupted in 1983 by a year as resident playwright at Downstage Theatre, Wellington.[3] In 1988 he returned to VUW, where he was professor of English literature until his retirement in 2004.[1] Notable students include Majella Cullinane.[4]

Honours and awards

In 1966, O'Sullivan won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry, in 1979 he received the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award for a short story,[5] and in 1994 he received the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship. He won the Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry in 1999.

O'Sullivan's investiture as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit by the governor-general, Dame Cindy Kiro, at Government House, Wellington, on 2 May 2022

In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, O’Sullivan was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to literature.[6] In 2009, following the restoration of titular honours by the New Zealand government, he initially declined redesignation as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit,[7] because, in his view, it did not fit New Zealand "historically and socially", and that "it didn't seem to make much sense in contemporary New Zealand society".[8] However, he accepted the change in December 2021.[9]

O'Sullivan was awarded the Creative New Zealand Michael King Writer's Fellowship in 2004,[10] the 2005 Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry, and the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in 2006.[11] He was the New Zealand Poet Laureate for the term 2013 to 2015,[12][13] and in 2016 he was the Honoured New Zealand Writer at the Auckland Writers Festival.[14]

The Dark is Light Enough: Ralph Hotere a Biographical Portrait won for him the 2021 General non-fiction award at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.[15]

Works

Poetry

  • 1965 Our Burning Time[16]
  • 1969 Revenants[17]
  • 1973 Bearings[18]
  • 1976 From the Indian Funeral[19]
  • 1977 Butcher & Co.[20]
  • 1980 Brother Jonathan, Brother Kafka (with prints by John Drawbridge)[21]
  • 1982 The Rose Ballroom and Other Poems[22]
  • 1982 The Butcher Papers[23]
  • 1986 The Pilate Tapes[24]
  • 1992 Selected Poems[25]
  • 1988 Seeing You Asked[26]
  • 2001 Lucky Table[27]
  • 2004 Nice Morning for It, Adam
  • 2004 Homecoming - Te Hokinga Mai
  • 2007 Blame Vermeer[28]
  • 2009 Further Convictions Pending: Poems 1998–2008[29]
  • 2011 The Movie May Be Slightly Different[30]
  • 2013 Us, Then[31]
  • 2015 Being Here: Selected Poems[32]
  • 2016 And So It Is: New Poems[33]

Short stories

  • 1978 The Boy, The Bridge, The River[34]
  • 1981 Dandy Edison for Lunch and Other Stories[35]
  • 1985 Survivals[36]
  • 1990 The Snow in Spain: Short Stories[37]
  • 1992 Palms and Minarets: Selected Stories[38]
  • 2014 The Families: Stories[39]
  • 2022 Mary's Boy, Jean-Jacques and other stories

Novels

  • 1976 Miracle: A Romance[40]
  • 1993 Let the River Stand[41]
  • 2018 All This By Chance[42]

Plays

  • 1983 Shuriken[43] (Downstage, Wellington)
  • 1983 Lysistrata (not performed)
  • 1984 Ordinary Nights in Ward 10 (New Depot, Wellington)
  • 1988 Jones and Jones[44] (Downstage, Wellington)
  • 1989 Billy[45] (Bats Theatre, Wellington)
  • 1994 The Lives and Loves of Harry and George (Downstage, Wellington)
  • 1996 Take the Moon, Mr Casement (Court Theatre, Christchurch)
  • 2003 Yellow Brides
  • 2021 Simple Acts of Malice

Nonfiction

  • 1974 Katherine Mansfield's New Zealand (revised 2013)[46]
  • 1976 James K. Baxter (New Zealand Writers and Their Work series)[47]
  • 2002 On Longing (Montana Essay Series)[48]
  • 2003 Long Journey to the Border: A Life of John Mulgan[49]
  • 2020 Ralph Hotere: The Dark is Light Enough[50]

Edited works

  • 1970 An Anthology of Twentieth-Century New Zealand Poetry[51] (revised 1976 and 1987)
  • 1975 New Zealand Short Stories: Third Series[52]
  • 1983 The Oxford Anthology of New Zealand Writing Since 1945, co-editor with MacDonald P. Jackson[53]
  • 1982 The Aloe, with Prelude[54]
  • 1985 Collected Poems: Ursula Bethell[55]
  • 1988 Poems of Katherine Mansfield[56]
  • 1989 The Selected Letters of Katherine Mansfield[57]
  • 1992 The Oxford Book of New Zealand Short Stories[58]
  • 1993 Intersecting Lines: The Memoirs of Ian Milner[59]
  • 1997 New Zealand Stories: Katherine Mansfield[60]
  • 1984, 1987, 1993, 1996, 2003 The Collected Letters of Katherine Mansfield (vols. 1–5), co-editor with Margaret Scott[61]
  • 2006, 2012 The Collected Fiction of Katherine Mansfield, 1916–1922 (vols. 1–2), co-editor with Gerri Kimber[62]

Librettos

  • 2002 Black Ice (with composer Ross Harris)
  • 2004 Lines from the Beach House (with composer David Farquhar)
  • 2008 The Floating Bride, the Crimson Village (with composer Ross Harris)
  • 2010 The Abiding Tides (with composer Ross Harris)
  • 2012 Songs for Beatrice: Making Light of Time (with composer Ross Harris)
  • 2014 Notes from the Front: Songs on Alexander Aitken (with composer Ross Harris)
  • 2014 Requiem for the Fallen (with composer Ross Harris)
  • 2014 If Blood Be the Price (with composer Ross Harris)
  • 2016 Brass Poppies (with composer Ross Harris)
  • 2018 Face (with composer Ross Harris)

Festschrift

  • 2007 Still shines when you think of it : a festschrift for Vincent O'Sullivan, edited by Bill Manhire and Peter Whiteford[63]

Further reading

  • '10 Questions: Vincent O'Sullivan', New Zealand String Quartet, 20 February 2014[64]
  • 'Vincent O'Sullivan: NZ poet, author, biographer', Radio New Zealand, 28 February 2014[65]
  • 'Ross Harris and Vincent O'Sullivan', Radio New Zealand, 1 March 2016[66]
  • 'Let us now contemplate what to do with Katherine Mansfield's bones: A proposal by Vincent O'Sullivan', The Spinoff, 28 March 2017[67]
  • 'Vincent O'Sullivan's first novel in 20 years a "landmark book" for NZ literature', by Mike White, North & South, 5 November 2018[68]
  • 'The deep discomfort of remembering, Ann Beaglehole', New Zealand Review of Books / Pukapuka Aotearoa, 6 June 2018[69]
  • All This By Chance reviewed by Nicholas Reid on Stuff, 11 March 2018[70]
  • 'Book of the Week: The best New Zealand novel of 2018': All This By Chance reviewed by Elizabeth Alley, The Spinoff, 22 March 2018[71]
  • All This By Chance reviewed by Marcus Hobson on NZ Booklovers[72]
  • All This By Chance reviewed by Lesley McIntosh on The Reader, NZ Booksellers blog, 19 April 2018[73]
  • 'Acclaimed writers Vincent O’Sullivan and Diana Wichtel explore their very different approaches to representing the Holocaust', Radio New Zealand, 26 December 2018[74]
  • 'The Confession Box: Vincent O'Sullivan', The New Zealand Herald, 11 May 2019 [75]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Vincent O'Sullivan". Poetry Archive. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  2. ↑ White, Mike (October 2018). "Vincent O'Sullivan's first novel in 20 years a 'landmark book' for NZ literature". North & South. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020 – via Noted.
  3. 1 2 3 "O'Sullivan, Vincent". Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  4. ↑ Cullinane, Majella (2020). The colours of that place: setting and memory in Irish short fiction (Doctoral thesis). OUR Archive, University of Otago. hdl:10523/9888.
  5. ↑ Wells, Amanda (2 April 2001). "Short stories go online". The Dominion. p. IT1.
  6. ↑ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2000 (including special list for East Timor)". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 5 June 2000. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  7. ↑ "Declined by 13: Knights and dames announced in two weeks". Otago Daily Times. 18 July 2009. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  8. ↑ Murphy, Nicola (18 July 2009). "Sir Sam and Sir Witi unlikely to arise". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  9. ↑ "Redesignation in the New Zealand Order of Merit". New Zealand Gazette. 21 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  10. ↑ "Vincent O'Sullivan awarded CNZ's Michael King Fellowship". The Big Idea. 21 June 2004. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  11. ↑ "Prime Minister's Awards for literary achievement". Creative New Zealand. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  12. ↑ "NZ celebrates poetry with National Poetry Day on 22 August" (Press release). Scoop. 11 August 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  13. ↑ International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004. Europa Publications. 2003. p. 426. ISBN 9781857431797.
  14. ↑ "2016 Honoured New Zealand Writer: Vincent O'Sullivan". www.writersfestival.co.nz. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  15. ↑ "Beautrais wins 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Award for fiction". Books+Publishing. 13 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  16. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1965). Our Burning Time. Wellington: Prometheus Books.
  17. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1969). Revenants. Wellington: Prometheus Books.
  18. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1973). Bearings. Wellington: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0196400104.
  19. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1976). From the Indian Funeral. Dunedin: John McIndoe. ISBN 0908565216.
  20. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1977). Butcher & Co. Wellington; Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195580230.
  21. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1980). Brother Jonathan, Brother Kafka. Wellington: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195580478.
  22. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1982). The rose ballroom and other poems. Dunedin: John McIndoe. ISBN 0868680494. OCLC 11051203.
  23. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1982). The butcher papers. O'Sullivan, Vincent. Auckland: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195580907. OCLC 12475774.
  24. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1986). The Pilate Tapes. Auckland: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195581601.
  25. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1992). Selected Poems. Auckland: Oxford University Press. ISBN 019558242X.
  26. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1998). Seeing you asked. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 0864733526. OCLC 40679012.
  27. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (2001). Lucky table. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 0864734069. OCLC 48479582.
  28. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (2007). Blame Vermeer. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 9780864735515. OCLC 156817044.
  29. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (2009). Further Convictions Pending: Poems 1988–2008. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 9780864736062.
  30. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent. (2011). The movie may be slightly different. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 9780864736437. OCLC 720632906.
  31. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (2013). Us, then. Wellington. ISBN 9780864738929. OCLC 842385729.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  32. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (2015). Being here : selected poems. Wellington. ISBN 9780864739315. OCLC 921828357.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  33. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (2016). And so it is. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 9781776560592.
  34. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1978). The boy, the bridge, the river. Dunedin: J. McIndoe. ISBN 0589011898. OCLC 5028977.
  35. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1981). Dandy Edison for Lunch and Other Stories. Dunedin: John McIndoe. ISBN 0868680354.
  36. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1985). Survivals and other stories. Wellington: Port Nicholson Press. ISBN 0868615463.
  37. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent. (1990). The snow in Spain : short stories. Wellington: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0046140115. OCLC 22273782.
  38. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent. (1992). Palms and minarets : selected stories. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 0864732309. OCLC 26935434.
  39. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1 October 2014). The Families. Victoria University Press. ISBN 978-0-86473-995-7.
  40. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1976). Miracle: A Romance. Dunedin: John McIndoe. ISBN 0908565143.
  41. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (8 September 1993). Let the river stand. Auckland. ISBN 9780143573807. OCLC 947774990.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  42. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (15 June 2018). All This By Chance. Victoria University Press. ISBN 978-1-77656-140-7.
  43. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1985). Shuriken. Victoria University Press. ISBN 9780864730107.
  44. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1989). Jones & Jones. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 0864730942. OCLC 25074658.
  45. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1990). Billy. Victoria University Press. ISBN 9780864732057.
  46. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent. (2013). Katherine Mansfield's New Zealand. Wellington: Steele Roberts Aotearoa. ISBN 9781877577055. OCLC 827970754.
  47. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent. (1976). James K. Baxter. Baxter, James K. Wellington: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195580109. OCLC 3120442.
  48. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent. (2002). On longing. Jones, Lloyd, 1955-. Wellington: Four Winds Press. ISBN 0958237514. OCLC 59360352.
  49. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (2011). Long journey to the border : a life of John Mulgan (Second ed.). Wellington, New Zealand. ISBN 9781927131329. OCLC 746765881.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  50. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (20 October 2020). Ralph Hotere : the dark is light enough : a biographical portrait. Auckland, New Zealand. ISBN 978-0-14-377515-7. OCLC 1201258432.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  51. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent, ed. (1987). An anthology of twentieth century New Zealand poetry (3rd ed.). Auckland: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195581636. OCLC 16626548.
  52. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (1975). New Zealand Short Stories: Third series. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195580001.
  53. ↑ Jackson, MacDonald P.; O'Sullivan, Vincent, eds. (1983). The Oxford book of New Zealand writing since 1945. Auckland: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195580974. OCLC 9832361.
  54. ↑ Mansfield, Katherine (1982). O'Sullivan, Vincent (ed.). The aloe : with, Prelude. Wellington: Port Nicholson Press. ISBN 090863501X. OCLC 9571129.
  55. ↑ Bethell, Ursula (1997). O'Sullivan, Vincent (ed.). Collected poems. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 0864733070. OCLC 38587538.
  56. ↑ Mansfield, Katherine (1988). O'Sullivan, Vincent (ed.). Poems of Katherine Mansfield. Auckland. ISBN 019558192X. OCLC 21412457.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  57. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent, ed. (1989). Katherine Mansfield, Selected Letters. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0198185928.
  58. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent, ed. (1992). The Oxford book of New Zealand short stories. Auckland: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195582527. OCLC 27762580.
  59. ↑ Milner, Ian (1993). O'Sullivan, Vincent (ed.). Intersecting lines : the memoirs of. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 0864732511. OCLC 34764456.
  60. ↑ Mansfield, Katherine (4 October 2013). O'Sullivan, Vincent (ed.). New Zealand Stories: Mansfield Selections. Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited. ISBN 9781775535003.
  61. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent; Scott, Margaret, eds. (5 June 2008). The Collected Letters of Katherine Mansfield: Volume 5: 1922. OUP Oxford. ISBN 9780191541827.
  62. ↑ Kimber, Gerri; O'Sullivan, Vincent, eds. (2012). The Collected Fiction of Katherine Mansfield, 1916–1922. Vol. 2. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748642755.
  63. ↑ Manhire, Bill; Whiteford, Peter, eds. (2007). Still shines when you think of it : a festschrift for Vincent O'Sullivan. Wellington: Victoria University Press.
  64. ↑ "10 Questions: Vincent O'Sullivan". New Zealand String Quartet. Archived from the original on 16 February 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  65. ↑ Ryan, Kathryn (28 February 2014). "Vincent O'Sullivan – NZ Poet, author, biographer". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  66. ↑ "Ross Harris and Vincent O'Sullivan". Radio New Zealand. 1 March 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  67. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (28 March 2017). "Let us now contemplate what to do with Katherine Mansfield's bones: a proposal by Vincent O'Sullivan". The Spinoff. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  68. ↑ White, Mike (5 November 2018). "Vincent O'Sullivan's first novel in 20 years a 'landmark book' for NZ literature". North & South. Archived from the original on 24 June 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2019 – via Noted.
  69. ↑ O'Sullivan, Vincent (6 June 2018). "The deep discomfort of remembering, Ann Beaglehole". New Zealand Review of Books Pukapuka Aotearoa. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  70. ↑ Reid, Nicholas (11 March 2018). "Book review: All This By Chance by Vincent O'Sullivan". Stuff. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  71. ↑ Alley, Elizabeth (22 March 2018). "Book of the Week: The best New Zealand novel of 2018". The Spinoff. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  72. ↑ "All This by Chance by Vincent O'Sullivan". NZ Booklovers. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  73. ↑ McIntosh, Lesley (19 April 2018). "Book Review: All This By Chance, by Vincent O'Sullivan". Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  74. ↑ "Acclaimed writers Vincent O'Sullivan and Diana Wichtel explore their very different approaches to representing the Holocaust". Radio New Zealand. 18 December 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  75. ↑ "The Confession Box: Vincent O'Sullivan". The New Zealand Herald. 10 May 2019. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.