Mark O'Connor (born 19 March 1945 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

) is an Australian poet, writer, and

environmental activist The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advo ...

. He is the author of twelve books of poetry on regions of Australia such as the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

and the Blue Mountains, often collaborating with renowned nature photographers. He has also written two books on the issue of

overpopulation Overpopulation or overabundance is a phenomenon in which a species' population becomes larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scale m ...

, ''This Tired Brown Land'' (1998) and, more recently, ''Overloading Australia'' (2008, co-written by William J. Lines). He has been a staunch advocate of incorporating quality poetry into civil celebrant ceremonies as evidenced for them in his professional development sessions.

Biography

Mark O'Connor graduated from Melbourne University with Honours in English and Classics. He has taught English literature at the universities of Western Australia and the Australian National University. He has won several national and international prizes and awards, and he has undertaken fellowships throughout the world including United States,

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, Russia, China and India. In 1999 he was appointed H.C. Coombs Creative Arts Fellow at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

, and in 2000 he was given a grant from the Australia Council to write poetry about the

2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. He is also the editor of the much re-printed Oxford anthology ''Two Centuries of Australian Poetry''. In addition to his own poetry, O'Connor is now translating

Shakespearean William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

verse into modern English. He is also the inventor and patent holder for the Pro-NOUNCE-it software for showing the pronunciation of English words. O'Connor was a candidate for NSW Senator at the 2010 Australian federal election, representing the Stable Population Party. He ran again for the senate in the 2013 Australian federal election.

Increasing the audience of poetry in English

O’Connor is a strong supporter of the civil celebrancy movement, and an ally of

Dally Messenger III Dally Messenger III (born 1938) is a civil celebrant, author, publisher, commentator, and a founder and chronicler of the civil celebrant movement which originated in Australia. He is the grandson of the rugby union and rugby league footballer ...

, who as Principal of the International College of Celebrancy advocated the use of poems or prose poems, chosen by the couple in consultation with their celebrant, in place of the traditional religious marriage ceremonies. Messenger argued that the ability to read poetry effectively in public was an essential skill of celebrants. O’Connor, who held a civil celebrant’s licence himself from 2004 to 2015, taught professional development courses on ceremonial performance. In these he argued that, “Poetry is memorable speech: rich and evocative memorable speech that is designed to be physically rolled in the mouth.” Some of his essays on poetry as a physical art have been published by the International College of Celebrancy.

References

External links

Mark O'Connor's official site

Brief bio at AustLit Agent
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Mark Australian poets Australian environmentalists Australian non-fiction writers Australian people of Irish descent Non-fiction environmental writers Sustainability advocates Living people 1945 births Translators of William Shakespeare