Michael O'Leary is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

publisher, poet, novelist, performer, and bookshop proprietor. He publishes under the imprint Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, which he founded in 1984. He runs a bookshop with Irving Lipshaw, Kakariki Books, from the

Paekakariki railway station Paekakariki railway station in Paekakariki, Paekākāriki on the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand is an intermediate station on the Kapiti Line for Public transport in the Wellington Region, Metlink's electric multiple unit commuter trains from Welli ...

Early life

Born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, he was educated at the Universities of Auckland and

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

. He wrote his master's thesis on the history of small presses in New Zealand. He is the author of ''Alternative Small Press Publishing in New Zealand'' (2007). He completed a PhD in

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

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 ...

on the "Social and Literary Constraints on Women Writers in New Zealand 1945 to 1970".

Writing

O'Leary's novels and poetry explore his

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

(

Te Arawa Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the Arawa migration canoe (''waka'').Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British ...

heritage. His latest novel is ''Magic Alex's Revenge'' (2009), the third in 'The Dreamlander Express' trilogy comprising ''Unlevel Crossings'' (2002) and ''Straight'' (1985). His works include ''Surrogate Children'' (poems, 1981), ''Ten Sonnets'' (1985), ''Out of It'' (satirical novel, 1987), ''Before and After'' (1987), ''Livin’ ina Aucklan’'' (1988) and ''The Irish Annals of New Zealand'' (1991).

Publishing

Under the Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop imprint he has published work by a range of writers, both alternative and mainstream, including:

Raewyn Alexander Raewyn Alexander (born 1955) is a New Zealand writer. She has also worked in visual media, producing comics and clothing. She was born in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, later moving to Auckland. Alexander was editor for the arts magazine ''Ma ...

, Colin Lloyd Amery, Sandra Bell,

John Pule John Puhiatau Pule (born 18 April 1962) is a Niuean artist, novelist and poet. The Queensland Art Gallery describes him as "one of the Pacific's most significant artists".

, Greg O'Brien,

David Eggleton David Eggleton (born 1952) is a New Zealand poet, critic and writer. Eggleton has been awarded the Ockham New Zealand Book Award for poetry and in 2019 was appointed New Zealand Poet Laureate, a title he held until 2022. Eggleton's work has app ...

, Pat Bellaney, Jeanne Bernhardt, Tony Beyer, Ken Bolton, Richard Burns, Karen Peterson Butterworth,

Meg Campbell Aline Margaret Campbell (, 19 November 1937 – 17 November 2007) was a New Zealand poet. She began writing in 1969, and became known as a poet after publishing several well-received collections in the 1980s. Many of her poems deal with issues ...

, Rosalie Carey,

Frances Cherry Frances Eleanor Cherry (née Birchfield; 25 November 1937 – 24 April 2022) was a New Zealand novelist, short-story writer, and teacher of creative writing. Biography Cherry was born on 25 November 1937 in Wellington. Her parents, Albert and ...

, Jill Chan, John Daubé, Rosalind Derby, Robin Fry, Basim Furat, Brian C. Hare, Heather McPherson, Isa Moynihan, Peter Olds, Victor O'Leary, Glynn Parker, Alistair Paterson,

Mark Pirie Mark Pirie (born 30 April 1974) is a New Zealand poet, writer, literary critic, anthologist, publisher, and editor. He is best known for his Generation X New Zealand anthology ''The NeXt Wave'', which included an 8,000-word introduction (1998), t ...

, Vivienne Plumb, Ralph Proops, Gemma Rowsell, Brian E. Turner, Nelson Wattie, Adam Wiedemann and others. In 2009, a book of biography and criticism about Michael O'Leary and his publishing house, edited by

, was published. The book is entitled ''The Earl is in: 25 Years of the Earl of Seacliff: A to Z'' (2009). O'Leary is a trustee for the Poetry Archive of New Zealand Aotearoa, a charitable trust dedicated to archiving, collecting and promoting

New Zealand poetry New Zealand literature is literature, both oral and written, produced by the people of New Zealand. It often deals with New Zealand themes, people or places, is written predominantly in New Zealand English, and features Māori culture and the u ...

Music

In 2011, O'Leary collaborated with several musicians to produce an album entitled ''Fences Fall – Songs from the Lyrics of Michael O’Leary.''

References

External links

*
Interview with Michael O'Leary and Claudia Jardine
Saturday Morning,

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...