Robert Sullivan (poet)

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Robert Sullivan
Sullivan, 2011
Sullivan, 2011
Born1967 (age 56–57)
Auckland, New Zealand
Occupation
  • Poet
  • academic
  • editor
EducationPhD, University of Auckland
Period1990–

Robert Sullivan (born 1967) is a Māori poet, academic and editor. His published poetry collections include Jazz Waiata (1990), Star Waka (1999) and Shout Ha! to the Sky (2010). His books are postmodern, explore social and racial issues, and explore aspects of Māori culture and history.[1]

Biography

Sullivan is of Māori and Irish descent. His grandfather was an immigrant to New Zealand from

Ngā Puhi (Ngāti Manu/Ngāti Hau) and Kāi Tahu iwi, and describes himself as multicultural.[2]

He graduated from the University of Auckland with a PhD, supervised by Selina Tusitala Marsh, and worked as Associate Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Programme at the University of Hawaiʻi.[3][4] Sullivan led until recently the creative writing programme at the Manukau Institute of Technology before becoming the Deputy Chief Executive Māori there from 2018 to 2020.[5] He is an editor of online literary journal trout.[6]

Writing

Sullivan's ten books include the bestselling Star Waka (1999), reprinted five times and shortlisted in 2000 for the

New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards. With Albert Wendt and Reina Whaitiri, he has co-edited several anthologies of poetry.[10] Their Polynesian poetry anthology, Whetu Moana, won the Reference and Anthology category in the 2004 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, and their Māori poetry anthology, Puna Wai Kōrero, won the 2015 Creative Writing category in the Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards.[1][11]

His wide-ranging work explores dimensions of Māori tradition as well as "contemporary urban experiences, including local racial and social concerns."

Pākehā within transcultural themes of voyaging, personal and national, of the poet and of Māori. In a sense, the poems in Star Waka "themselves function like a waka."[14] Star Waka was "lauded for its poetic flair".[4]

He is "widely seen as one of the most important contemporary Māori poets".[15]

Critical reception

Sullivan's Shout Ha! to the Sky (2010) was described by Paula Green in the New Zealand Herald as "a stunning symphony of love, politics, tenderness, confession, sharpness and insight", which "should be in every school library and accompany the journey of any reader drawn to the history and politics of where we come from and who we are".[16] She described his collection Cassino (2010), which paid tribute to those who died and fought at the Battle of Monte Cassino during World War II, as again highlighting his "wide-ranging voice" and being "sumptuous in content yet simple in execution".[16]

Literary works

Kawe Reo / Voices Carry, a 2011 sculptural bench outside the Auckland Central City Library that incorporates poetry by Sullivan

Authored:

  • Jazz Waiata (1990)
  • Piki Ake!: Poems 1990–92 (1993)
  • Maui – Legends of the Outcast (1996)
  • Star Waka (1999; German translation: Sternen-Waka, 2012)
  • Weaving Earth and Sky : Myths & Legends of Aotearoa (2002)
  • Captain Cook in the Underworld (2002)
  • Voice Carried My Family (2005)
  • Shout Ha! to the Sky (2010)
  • Cassino: City of Martyrs (2010)
  • Tūnui | Comet (2022)

Edited:

  • ISBN 9781869402730
    .
  • ISBN 9781869404482
    .
  • Puna Wai Kōrero: An Anthology of Māori Poetry in English (2014) coedited with Reina Whaitiri

References

  1. ^ a b "Robert Sullivan". Academy of New Zealand Literature. 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  2. ^ Sullivan, Robert (November 2006). "A Brief Introduction". Aotearoa Ethnic Journal. 1 (2). Archived from the original on 5 February 2013.
  3. hdl:2292/25497
    .
  4. ^ a b Green, P., and Ricketts, H., 99 Ways into New Zealand Poetry, Vintage, 2010.
  5. ^ "School of Creative Writing – Faculty of Creative Arts". Manukau.ac.nz. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  6. ^ "TROUT – SUBMISSIONS". trout. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  7. ^ Horrocks, Dylan. "Outcast in Ink". Pavement Magazine Feature. Dec. 1996. "Maui Reviews". Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  8. ^ "LIANZA Russell Clark Award". Christchurch City Libraries. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  9. ISBN 978-1-8694-0281-5
    .
  10. ISBN 978-0-1917-4452-5
    . Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards". Christchurch City Libraries. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  12. ^ "New Zealand Book Council". Bookcouncil.org.nz. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  13. ^ Jensen, K. "Sullivan, Robert." The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature. R. Robinson & N. Wattie (eds.). Melbourne: Oxford UP, 1998, 519.
  14. ^ "Star Waka – Auckland University Press – The University of Auckland". Press.auckland.ac.nz. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  15. ^ "Sullivan, R." Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Dominic Head (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006, 1078.
  16. ^ a b Green, Paula (7 March 2011). "Poetry Reviews: Fossicking in the past". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 February 2021.

External links

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