New Zealand Writers
O'LEARY, Michael
Has made a colourful contribution to the literary scene in three cities.
Author entry from The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, edited by Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie (1998). About the Companion entries View list of Companion contributors
O’LEARY, Michael (1950– ), publisher, poet, novelist, performer and bookshop proprietor, has made a colourful contribution to the literary scene in three cities.
Born in Auckland, he was educated at the universities of Auckland and Otago, and now lives in Wellington. Under his Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop imprint he has published his own prolific output as well as various other writers, both alternative and mainstream. His works include Surrogate Children (poems, 1981),
Ten Sonnets (1985), Straight (novel, 1985), Out of It (satirical novel, 1987), Before and After (1987), Livin’ ina Aucklan’ (1988) and The Irish Annals of New Zealand (1991). He has also written commissioned histories of two Auckland cemeteries, and edited Wrapper (1992), a collection of poems by both new and established poets. His work has appeared in *Pilgrims, Te *Ao Marama and elsewhere.
O’Leary’s poetry and novels explore his Maori (Te Arawa)–Irish Catholic heritage, the poetry more conventionally, the prose in an alternative vein which owes something to Joyce and Beckett.
JH
Updated Information
Unlevel Crossings (2002) is a novel about Patrick Mika Fitzgerald who embarks on a physical and psychological train journey. O'Leary's rhythmic prose, wordplay and multilingual puns are described as providing a Maori-modernist take on Aotearoa New Zealand.
Toku Tinihanga (Self Deception) (2003) is the selected poems of Michael O'Leary, spanning twenty years.
In 2004, Michael O'Leary co-edited with Mark Pirie, JAAM 21 Greatest Hits: an anthology of writing from 1984-2004, drawing on work included in HeadworX and Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop publications as well as retrospective material from the first 20 issues of JAAM magazine.
O'Leary's collection of poems Make Love and War was published by HeadworX in 2005 .
Mahones (2005) is an anthology collection of four poets, featuring Michael O'Leary, Mark Pirie, Bill Dacker and Iain Sharp.
Sounds of Sonnets (2007), is a collection of sonnets by Mark Pirie and Michael O'Leary. Each poet has 25 sonnets to depict their style and content, usually elegiac and satirical. In doing so the two poets combine to produce a substantial volume that will entertain and bring notice once again to the sonnet form in New Zealand.
Related Links
