Geoff Cochrane

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Geoff Cochrane
BornGeoffrey O'Neill Cochrane
1951 (1951)
Wellington, New Zealand
Died (aged 71)
Wellington, New Zealand
Occupation
  • Poet
  • novelist
  • short story writer
Notable awardsArts Foundation Laureate (2014)

Geoffrey O'Neill Cochrane (1951 – November 2022) was a New Zealand poet, novelist and short story writer. He published 19 collections of poetry, a novel and a collection of short fiction. Many of his works were set in or around his hometown of Wellington, and his personal battles with alcoholism were a frequent source of inspiration.

Life and career

Cochrane was born in

TAB.[3]

His first five poetry collections were published by private presses, beginning with Images of Midnight City in 1976.

Victoria University Press (VUP).[2] His publicist at VUP, Kirsten McDougall, noted "his work was widely ignored by those who give out prizes and seats at festivals".[6] The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature describes his poetry as "spare in form and precise in language", and of an "often melancholy mood".[2] Alcoholism and Wellington often feature in his poetry.[7]

Cochrane published two novels, Tin Nimbus (1995) and Blood (1997). Both are about an alcoholic's experiences with institutions in late 1970s Wellington,

The Sunday Star-Times said Cochrane "has injected into this full-blooded novel the futility and bewilderment, the fear and loathing, of everyday life";[9] The Evening Post compared it to the later work of Jack Kerouac.[10] Of his short fiction, collected in Astonished Dice (2014), reviewer Grant Smithies for The Sunday Star Times has said Cochrane "has a poet's economy with language, an alcoholic's understanding of pain, a lapsed Catholic's feel for mystery; a cinematographer's eye for a strong image".[11]

In 2009 he was awarded the Janet Frame Prize for Poetry.

Best New Zealand Poems.[8][13][14][15] His 2007 entry in the anthology, "Chemotherapy", was written about the death of New Zealand author Nigel Cox.[16] In 2010 he received the first Nigel Cox Unity Books Award.[8][6]

In 2014 Cochrane was made an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate as one of New Zealand's "most outstanding practising artists".[17] In 2019 his collection The Black and the White was selected by The Spinoff as one of the ten best poetry collections of 2019, with the reviewer noting "I like it because Geoff can still get grumpy".[18]

Death and Selected Poems

Cochrane died at his home in Wellington in November 2022, aged 71.[6][19] New Zealand's poet laureate Chris Tse wrote a poem in tribute titled "Starship (version)".[6]

In November 2023 the Selected Poems: Geoff Cochrane collection, edited by

The Listener highlighted it as one of the best poetry collections of the year: "The best work of the late, prolific poet who saw things at ground level, gleaned from the 20 collections he wrote".[20] Harry Ricketts, reviewing the collection for Radio New Zealand, said that Cochrane's poems are full of "brilliant splinters of language and perception", and that he is "definitely the Wellington poet".[21]

Selected works

Poetry collections

Other work

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Cochrane, Geoff". Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  2. ^
    OCLC 865265749
    . Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  3. ^ "Interviewed by Damien Wilkins – Geoff Cochrane". Sport. 31. Spring 2003. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  4. ^ Simpson, Peter (1 July 1978). "First publications by two new poets". The Press. p. 15. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  5. ^
    ProQuest 314543054
    . Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d "Remembering Geoff Cochrane, 1951–2022". The Spinoff. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  7. ^
    ISBN 9780191744525
    . Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  8. ^ a b c d "Geoff Cochrane's Biography". The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  9. ProQuest 313920188
    . Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  10. ProQuest 314495352
    . Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  11. ^ Smithies, Grant (18 January 2015). "This perilous moral adventure". The Sunday Star-Times. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  12. ProQuest 314956753
    . Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems". Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  14. ^ Cochrane, Geoff (2019). "The Black and the White". Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  15. ^ Cochrane, Geoff (2020). "The tattooed man". Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  16. ^ Cochrane, Geoff (2007). "Chemotherapy". Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  17. ^ "The Arts Foundation Laureate Award". The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  18. ^ "The 10 best New Zealand poetry collections of 2019". The Spinoff. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  19. The Dominion Post
    . 16 November 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  20. ^ Reid, Nicholas (30 November 2023). "The Year in Books: The top 10 poetry collections". The New Zealand Listener. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Book review: Selected Poems: Geoff Cochrane by Geoff Cochrane, ed. Fergus Barrowman". Radio New Zealand. 9 November 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  22. ^ "Tin nimbus | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  23. ^ "Blood | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  24. ^ "Astonished dice | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 14 November 2022.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geoff_Cochrane&oldid=1187990548"