Hera Lindsay Bird (born 31 December 1987) is a New Zealand poet.

Life and career

Hera Lindsay Bird was born and raised in

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

in the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

of New Zealand. She attended

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

and then received her Master's degree in poetry from its

International Institute of Modern Letters The International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) ( mi, Te Pūtahi Tuhi Auaha o te Ao) is a centre of creative writing based within Victoria University of Wellington. Founded in 2001, the IIML offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses (i ...

. Her first collection of poetry, the self-titled ''Hera Lindsay Bird'', was published by

Victoria University Press Te Herenga Waka University Press or THWUP (formerly Victoria University Press) is the book publishing arm of Victoria University of Wellington, located in Wellington, New Zealand. As of 2022, the press had published around 800 books. History Vi ...

in 2016 and

Penguin UK Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Ockham New Zealand Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder W ...

. Bird first gained popularity when her poem "Keats Is Dead So Fuck Me From Behind"

went viral Viral phenomena or viral sensation are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the ter ...

in the summer of 2016. She and her work have since been profiled in ''

VICE A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...

'', '' I-D'', and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. In 2018 Bird's work was selected by British Poet Laureate

Carol Ann Duffy Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first ...

to be published by Smith/Doorstop Books as part of their Laureate's Choice series. The published collection was called ''Pamper Me to Hell & Back.'' In 2022 a Tweet posted by Bird in 2017 was ranked first on a list of the top New Zealand tweets of all time by

The Spinoff ''The Spinoff'' is a New Zealand online magazine and news website that was founded in 2014. It is known for current affairs coverage, political and social analysis, and cultural commentary. It earns money through commercial sponsorship and su ...

. In 2023 Bird started writing a well received

agony aunt An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a (usually anonymous) reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response. The responses are wr ...

column for ''The Spinoff'', called 'Help Me Hera'.

Works

Poetry

* ''Hera Lindsay Bird'' (

, 2016) ISBN 9781776560714 *''Pamper Me to Hell & Back: Laureate's Choice'' ''2018'' (Smith/Doorstop Books, 2018)

References

External links

*
Bird's Twitter accountHera Lindsay Bird's author page at Victoria University Press"'Bisexuality', a Poem by Hera Lindsay Bird" on VICE‘Keats is Dead so Fuck me From Behind’ by Hera Lindsay Bird
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bird, Hera Lindsay Living people 21st-century New Zealand poets New Zealand women poets 1987 births 21st-century New Zealand women writers People from Thames, New Zealand International Institute of Modern Letters alumni