Rachel Bush (26 December 1941 — 23 March 2016) was a New Zealand poet and teacher. Her work was widely published in books, anthologies and literary magazines.

Biography

Bush was born in 1941 in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

and grew up in

Hāwera Hāwera is the second-largest centre in the Taranaki region of New Zealand's North Island, with a population of . It is near the coast of the South Taranaki Bight. The origins of the town lie in a government military base that was established i ...

. She taught English at

Nelson College for Girls , motto_translation = Loyalty, honesty and wisdom , type = State secondary, day and boarding , established = 1883; years ago , address = Trafalgar St , city = Nels ...

until 2003. She was a member of the first MA course in creative writing run by

Bill Manhire William Manhire (born 27 December 1946) is a New Zealand poet, short story writer, emeritus professor, and New Zealand's inaugural New Zealand Poet Laureate, Poet Laureate (1997–1998). He founded New Zealand's first creative writing course at ...

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 ...

in 1996 and her first book of poetry, ''The Hungry Woman'', was based on work written during that course. Her work was published in '' Best New Zealand Poems'' and in ''4th Floor Literary Journal'' as well as on online poetry blogs and in journals including ''Sport,'' ''

Landfall Landfall is the event of a storm moving over land after being over water. More broadly, and in relation to human travel, it refers to 'the first land that is reached or seen at the end of a journey across the sea or through the air, or the fact ...

'', ''Turbine'' and Faber's ''Introduction''. In 2004, she was poet in residence at Wellington Hospital as part of the Poets in Workplaces Scheme. The resulting poems were published as a booklet by the Wai-te-ata Press in 2006, accompanied by photographs taken in the Neonatal Unit by Alan Knowles. One of her poems, "Cicadas", was set to music by

Gillian Whitehead Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead (born 23 April 1941) is a New Zealand composer. She is of Māori Ngāi Te Rangi descent. Her Māori heritage has been an important influence on her composing. Early life Whitehead was born in Hamilton in 1941. ...

, having been commissioned by harpist Helen Webby (with funding from

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets ...

). Bush was married to musician

Richard Nunns Richard Anthony Nunns (7 December 1945 – 7 June 2021) was a Māori traditional instrumentalist of Pākehā heritage. He was particularly known for playing taonga pūoro and his collaboration with fellow Māori instrumentalist Hirini Melbourn ...

and had two daughters and five grandchildren. She died on 23 March 2016, a month before the publication of ''Thought Horses'', although a copy of the book was ready in time for her to see it. ''Thought Horses'' was posthumously longlisted for the 2017

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 ...

Bibliography

* ''The Hungry Woman'' (Victoria University Press, 1997) * ''The Unfortunate Singer'' (Victoria University Press, 2002) * ''All patients report here'', with photos by Alan Knowles (Wai-te-ata Press, 2006) * ''Nice Pretty Things'' (Victoria University Press, 2011) * ''Thought Horses'' (Victoria University Press, 2016)

Biography

Bibliography

See also