Gregory O'Brien
# Gregory O'Brien

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.

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

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

## 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.
