| GREGORY O'BRIEN b. 1961 Matamata, New Zealand. | |
Poet, fiction and non-fiction writer, curator, artist. He is a contributing editor to the American literary annual Fulcrum and has edited issues of Landfall, Sport. He has also worked with letterpress printers, visual artists, typographers, composers, musicians, film-makers and other artists exploring new possibilities for poetry. 1988 Frank Sargeson Fellow. |
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1995 Victoria University Writer in Residence. |
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| EXHIBITIONS
Since 1990 has held Solo shows at Bowen Gallery, Wellington. 1993 Irishman and Industry, solo. Bowen Galleries, Wellington. |
 Gregory O'Brien Basement Kitchen II, 2008, relief etching, edition of 10, 390 x 288 mm |
2011 Artist:Poet:Artist, Gregory O’Brien and John Lyall, Jane Sanders Art Agent, Auckland. |
 Gregory O'Brien working at the Cicada Press, Sydney.  Installation shot of the exhibition Artist:Poet:Artist 2011 |
| Private collections in New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, France and Germany. Hocken Library, Dunedin. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. National Library of New Zealand, Wellington Rare Books Collection, Auckland Public Libraries. Auckland University Art Collection. Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wellington. PUBLICATIONS NON-FICTION • Moments of Invention--Profiles of New Zealand writers (with photographer Robert Cross) (Heinemann/Reed 1988). • Nigel Brown (Random House/Century Hutchinson, 1990). |
 Gregory O'Brien, News of the Swimmer Reaches Shore, Matiatai Bay, 2008, acrylic on wood, 61 x 84.5 cm |
| • Lands and Deeds—Profiles of Contemporary New Zealand Painters (Godwit/Random House 1996) shortlisted for Montana Book Awards 1997. • Hotere—Out the Black Window (Godwit/Random House, 1997) shortlisted for Montana Book Awards 1998. • After Bathing at Baxter’s—Essays and Notebooks (Victoria University Press, 2002) included the essay, ‘A journey around Kendrick Smithyman’s Atua Wera’, winner, inaugural Landfall essay competition, 1997. • Welcome to the South Seas—Contemporary New Zealand Art for Young People (Auckland University Press 2004) winner non-fiction section, New Zealand Post Book Awards 2005 , winner Elsie Locke medal 2005. • Elizabeth Thomson—My Hi-Fi, My Sci-Fi (City Gallery Wellington, 2006). • We set out one morning—works from the BNZ Art Collection (Private Bank, 2006). • News of the Swimmer Reaches Shore (Carcanet UK/Victoria University Press 2007/excerpt published in 20 Ans, Les Belles Etrangeres, trns. Pierre Furlan, 2008). • A Nest of Singing Birds—100 Years of the New Zealand School Journal (Learning Media, 2007) – winner ‘reference and anthology’ section, Montana Book Awards 2008; shortlisted Booksellers Award, Montana Book Awards 2002. • Back and Beyond—New Zealand Painting for the Young and Curious (Auckland University Press 2008) winner New Zealand Post Book Awards, non-fiction section, 2009; shortlisted for Elsie Locke medal 2009. • A Micronaut in the Wide World: The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy (Auckland University Press, 2011). BOOKS EDITED AND CO-AUTHORED • White horse, black dog—photography of Peter Black (Sport 15, 1995). • My heart goes swimming—New Zealand Love Poems (with Jenny Bornholdt) (Godwit, 1996). • An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry (in English), (with Jenny Bornholdt and Mark |
 Auckland University Press, 2004  Auckland University Press, 2011 |
| Williams) (Oxford University Press, 1996) winner poetry section, Montana Book Awards, 1997. • Parihaka—the art of passive resistance (with Te Miringa Hohaia and Lara Strongman) co-winner biography and history section, Montana Book Awards, 2001. |
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| • Big Weather—Wellington Poems (with Louise White/St John) Mallinson Rendel, 2000, shortlisted Booksellers Award, Montana Book Awards 2001 / reprinted three times, New enlarged edition, forthcoming July 2009. • John Drawbridge—Wide Open Interior (Mallinson Rendel / City Gallery Wellington, 2001) • Chris Booth—Sculpture in Europe, Australia and New Zealand (with Edward Lucie-Smith and Ken Scarlett) Godwit, 2002. • Peter Black—Real Fiction (with Lara Strongman), Sport 30, 2004. • Rosalie Gascoigne—Plain Air (City Gallery Wellington, Victoria University Press, 2003). • The Colour of Distance—New Zealand writers in France, French writers in New Zealand (with Jenny Bornholdt) (Victoria University Press, 2005). • Aberhart (Victoria University Press, 2007), shortlisted for Montana Book Awards 2008, illustrated arts section. • Fiona Hall—Force Field (Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney/City Gallery Wellington, 2008). • East—Stanley Palmer (Craig Potton Publishing, 2009). • John Pule—Lost Gods (University of Otago Press, 2010). - Kermadec - Nine Artists in the South Pacific. Co-edit with Bronwyn Golder (Pew Environment Group, 2011) |
 Afternoon of an Evening Train, Victoria University Press 2005. |
DOCUMENTARY FILMSCRIPT • Aspiring, 45min, dir. Yvonne Mackay, Gibson Group, 2006. POETRY • Location of the Least Person (Auckland University Press 1987). • Man with a Child’s Violin (Caxton Press 1990) shortlisted New Zealand Book Awards 1991. • Great Lake (Local Consumption Publications, Sydney, 1991). • Malachi (Little Esther Books, 1991). • Days Beside Water (Auckland University Press 1993 and Carcanet, UK, 1994). • Winter I Was (Victoria University Press 1999). • Afternoon of an Evening Train (Victoria University Press 2005). • Beauties of the Octagonal Pool (in preparation). • Two walk in Edinburgh (with photographer Mari Mahr), Holloway Press, Auckland University, 2011. • Beauties of the Octagonal Pool, Auckland University Press, 2012. |
 Days Beside Water, Auckland University Press 1993 & Carcanet, UK, 1994 |
O’Brien has also produced numerous small press projects including: • Dunes and Barns (Modern House, 1988) • The Long Fall from Splendour to Splendour (with drawings by Brian Gregory, Puriri Press 1994) • Irishman and Industry (Pear Tree Press, 1996) • Seven Letters (Wellington Plains, 1996) • The Time and How (Wellington Plains, 1996) • Two Apostrophes (with illustrations by Noel McKenna, Wellington Plains 2001) • The Wolf of Horeke (with Noel McKenna, Fernbank Studio 2008), Finitudes (Wellington Plains, 2009) • Small Edible Garden (Wellington Plains, 2009). |
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FICTION • Diesel Mystic (Auckland University Press, 1989) shortlisted for New Zealand Book Awards, fiction section, 1990 SELECTED BOOK CONTRIBUTIONS: • The Source of the Song; New Zealand writers and Catholicism, ed. Mark Williams, VUP 1995 • Art in the 20th Century; Modern Masterpieces of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, City Gallery Wellington, 1998 • Hotere—Black Light (ed. Ian Wedde) Te Papa Press, 2000 • Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera; Mexican Modernism, Australian National Gallery, Canberra; Contemporary New Zealand Photographers (ed. Lara Strongman and Hannah Holm), Mountain View Press 2006 • Cover Up, the art of the book cover in NZ, preface to book by Hamish Thompson (Random House, 2007) • Look This Way (ed. Sally Blundell), Auckland University Press, 2007 • Rita Angus—Life and Vision (ed. William McAloon and Jill Trevelyan) Te Papa Press 2008 • Art at Te Papa (ed. William McAloon) Te Papa Press 2009 • Making it new: Focus on contemporary Australian Art (Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, forthcoming 2009). |
 A details from The Rosary Sonatas. |
INCLUDED IN THE FOLLOWING SELECTED ANTHOLOGIES: • The Oxford Anthology of 20th Century New Zealand Poetry (ed. Vincent O’Sullivan), 1987 • The Caxton Anthology of New Zealand Poetry 1972-85 (ed. Mark Williams), 1987 • The New Poets (ed. Murray Edmond and Mary Paul, Allen & Unwin) 1987 • The New Fiction (ed. Michael Morrissey, 1986) • The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Poetry 1989 • The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Short Stories 1989 • 100 New Zealand Poems (ed. Bill Manhire, 1993) • The Oxford Anthology of New Zealand Love Stories (ed. Fiona Kidman) 1995 • An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry (in English), Oxford 1996 • The Oxford Anthology of New Zealand Love Poems (ed. Lauris Edmond) 1997 • Essential New Zealand Poems (Edmond/Sewell 2000); New New Zealand Poets in Performance (ed. Ross & Kemp), 2008 • Twenty Contemporary New Zealand Poets, Carcanet/VUP 2009. |
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MAJOR EXHIBITIONS CURATED BY GREGORY O’BRIEN • Hotere—Out the Black Window - for City Gallery Wellington 1997 (toured to Auckland, Rotorua, Christchurch, Dunedin) • From the BNZ Art Collection - for City Gallery Wellington, 1998 • McCahon—A view from the Ureweras - for City Gallery Wellington, 1999 • Parihaka—the art of Passive Resistance (with Te Miringa Hohaia and Lara Strongman) - for City Gallery Wellington (toured to Dunedin and New Plymouth) • John Drawbridge—Wide Open Interior - for City Gallery Wellington, 2001 • Peter Black—Real Fiction - for City Gallery Wellington, 2002 • Rosalie Gascoigne - for City Gallery Wellington, 2004 (co-curated with Paula Savage) • Main Trunk Lines—New Zealand Poetry - for National Library Gallery, Wellington, 2005 (co-curated with Jenny Bornholdt) • Melvin Day—Continuum - for City Gallery Wellington, 2005 (toured to Rotorua) • Jane Pountney—wade in the water - for City Gallery Wellington 2005 • Noel McKenna—Sheltered Life - for City Gallery Wellington, 2005 (subsequently shown in Sydney) • Elizabeth Thomson—My Hi-Fi My Sci-Fi - for City Gallery Wellington, 2006 (toured to Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua and Dunedin) |
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| • A Nest of Singing Birds—100 Years of the New Zealand School Journal - for National Library Gallery, Wellington, 2007 (co-curated with Susanna Andrew and Jenny Bornholdt) (toured to New Plymouth) • Aberhart - for City Gallery Wellington, 2007 (toured to Auckland, Wanganui, Christchurch and Dunedin) • Fiona Hall—Force Field - for Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, and City Gallery Wellington (toured to Christchurch and, in reduced form, to New Plymouth and Newcastle, Australia) (co-curated with Vivienne Webb, MCA, and Paula Savage) • John Pule retrospective - for City Gallery Wellington (to open in June 2010) • The imaginative life and times of Graham Percy - for Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland University, 2011. Touring show. |
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POEMS SET TO MUSIC • Irishman and Industry – for soprano saxophone and voice, Lucien Johnson, 2004 • Wet Jacket Arm – for bassoon and voice, Gillian Whitehead 2008 • Richard Henry in Fiordland – for bassoon, piano and voice, Gillian Whitehead 2008 • A shift in the wind – for two pianos and voice, Gillian Whitehead 2008 • Winter I Was – for alto flute and voice, Ben Hoadley, 2009 • Song Cycle (Winter I Was, from Stitch Bird, A Traditional Song, Russian Grave Menton), for piano and voice, Helen Bowater, 2009 • The non-singing seats (in preparation), Helen Bowater, 2010 |
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WEBSITES Book Council website profile: http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/obriengreg.html Victoria University Press profile: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/vup/authorinfo/gobrien.aspx Carcanet Publishers, UK, author’s profile: http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?owner_id=532 Bowen Galleries website: http://www.bowengalleries.co.nz/htm/artists/obrien.html About Welcome to the South Seas and Back & Beyond; including four supplementary chapters published only on this website: http://www.chartwell.org.nz/startthinking/welcometothesouthseas.asp Full text of Gregory O’Brien’s Janet Frame Memorial Lecture, 2008 http://www.nzbooksabroad.com/framelecture.php Where the alphabet begins-Janet Frame and contemporary New Zealand art, lecture given at City Gallery Wellington, 2005: http://www.citygallery.org.nz/mainsite/lecture-by-gregory-o-brien.html Introduction to Land of Seas, an anthology of New Zealand poetry translated into Russian and published in Moscow, June 2005. English version: http://www.nzetc.org/iiml/turbine/Turbi05/nzpoetryabroad/landofseas1.html Exit from Eden—euphoria and despair in the art of Fiona Hall, lecture given at Govett-Brewster Gallery, May 2008 www.govettbrewster.com [in preparation] A book-length poem, ‘Malachi’, originally published by Little Esther Books, Adelaide, 1993: http://www.eaf.asn.au/otis/gom.html A 2008 long sequence of poems, ‘The ailing wife’, in the UK journal Shearsman: http://www.shearsman.com/pages/magazine/back_issues/shearsman77_78/obrien.html Essay: ‘A journey around Kendrick Smithyman’s Atua Wera’, Landfall 1997 http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/authors/smithyman/journey.asp Essay about James K. Baxter and Peter Jackson, Sport 2002 http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Ba28Spo-t1-body-d12.html Essay about James K. Baxter and Hiruharama (Jerusalem), Sport 1994 http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/misc/obrien.asp |
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