Bullock, Owen
IN BRIEF
Poet and teacher Owen Bullock was born and bred in Cornwall and has lived in New Zealand since 1989. Bullock has won awards for his poetry and is widely published in New Zealand and overseas. He has been an editor of several magazines, including Poetry NZ and Kokako. He has published poetry, haiku, fiction and non-fiction.
ProfilePlace of residence: Katikati |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bullock, Owen (1967 –) is a poet and teacher.
Born and bred in Cornwall, Bullock has lived in New Zealand for over 20 years. He completed an MA in English at The University of Waikato and has since worked as a poet, teacher and editor.
Bullock has been a regular contributor to New Zealand journals for some years, appearing in Takahe, Sport, Landfall and brief to name a few. He has edited several magazines, including Poetry NZ and Kokako. He has published a collection of haiku, wild camomile (Post Pressed, Australia, 2009); the novella A Cornish Story (Palores, UK, 2010), and a book of longer poems, sometimes the sky isn’t big enough (Steele Roberts, NZ, 2010). He has a website, which you will find listed under Media Links and Clips below.
Writing in Poetry NZ, Alistair Paterson describes Bullock’s work as ‘poetry that balances colloquial language and the everyday happenings and events against a juxtaposition of semiotic writing technique and existentialist philosophy.’
In The Cornish Banner, Alan M. Kent describes Bullock’s A Cornish Story as, ‘a Cornu-English masterpiece.’
In Presence (UK), reviewer Matthew Paul rates wild camomile, ‘a wry and entertaining debut collection,’ and Joanna Preston, writing in Kokako, finds it, ‘a well balanced, accessible, interesting haiku collection’.
writers in schools information
Owen Bullock is able to visit schools outside his region as part of the Book Council's Writers in Schools programme. He is happy to talk to students over seven years old about being a poet and adult fiction writer. He is available to give a reading and answer questions, give a poetry performance, and run creative writing workshops. His preferred number of students in session is 15 with a maximum of 30.
KAPAI: Kids' Authors' Pictures and Information
Where do you live?
On the edge of the Karangahake Gorge, near Paeroa.
What books do you read?
Contemporary poetry, novels, biographies, and books on spirituality.
Who is your favourite author?
There are many including the poets James K. Baxter, Emily Dickinson, and Charles Bukowski, as well as novelists Paul Gallico, Samuel Beckett, and Mary Webb.
How do you think up your ideas?
They come to me in a way that can’t be ignored; if I try too hard it doesn’t work.
What is the best thing about being an author?
Expressing myself; I feel completely alive when I’m writing and miss it when I’m not.
Some Questions from Primary School Students
What sort of pets do you have?
None, though the neighbours’ Tibetan spaniel visits a lot.
What is your favourite colour/food/movie/game?
Colour: yellow. Food: curry. Movie: Tout les Matins du Monde, Game: Five Hundred (cards)
What is the most fun thing about being an author?
Watching my own characters do things I don’t expect.
How do you make books?
Write hard for many years and then find someone who is interested in your work.
Where do you go for your holidays?
Normally, the Coromandel, but I visited Ireland for the first time recently.
What was the naughtiest thing you ever did at school?
Pulled the teacher’s hair!! I was five years old.
Some Questions from Secondary School Students
How did you get started?
I wanted to be a writer from the age of 10. I used to write my own versions of popular stories, things like Paddington Meets the Werewolf! When I started to think more deeply (around age 14), I began writing poetry.
What advice would you give an aspiring young writer?
Read a lot. Write a lot. Don’t let anything stop you writing.
Is it difficult to make a living writing in New Zealand?
Yes, it’s a rare thing; most writers have to teach as well.
What were you like as a teenager?
Very nervous socially and yet I would sometimes act the class clown.
Additional ideas and information:
I’ve been interested in many things — running, juggling, music and acting – but writing is like a home that I come back to.
Media links and clips
- Owen Bullock's website
- Stylus Poetry Journal
- Aha! Poetry
- Poetry NZ Issue 27
- Poetry Society
