Gregory Leo O’Brien (born 1961) is a New Zealand poet, painter, author and editor. He is also an art curator and writes art history and criticism for both adults and children.

Life

Born in

Matamata Matamata () is a town in Waikato, New Zealand. It is located near the base of the Kaimai Ranges, and is a thriving farming area known for Thoroughbred horse breeding and training pursuits. It is part of the Matamata-Piako District, which take ...

in 1961, O'Brien trained as a journalist in Auckland and worked as a newspaper reporter in Northland. He graduated from the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

. He lives in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, and is married to poet Jenny Bornholdt.

Awards and honours

* 1988 Sargeson Fellowship * 1995 Victoria University Writing Fellow * 1997 Landfall Essay Competition * 1997 Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry * 2005 LIANZA Elsie Locke Non-Fiction Award * 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Award for Reference and Anthology * 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Award for Illustrated Fiction for ''Don Binney: Flight Path'' In 2012 O'Brien received the

Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement is a List of New Zealand literary awards, New Zealand literary award established in 2003 by the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand), the national arts development agenc ...

, and became an Arts Foundation Laureate. In the

2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, he was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...

, for services to the arts and in 2017 received an honorary doctorate of literature from

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

Works

Poetry and poetry collections and prose writing

"Rocks, Te Namu Pa, Taranaki"; "Untitled"; "Beausoleil", "European", ''Shearsman 59''
* ttp://jacketmagazine.com/35/obrien-jacket-arm.shtml "Wet Jacket Arm", ''Jacket 35'', Early 2008* ''Location of the Least Person'' (Auckland University Press, 1987) * ''Dunes and Barns'' (1988) * ''Man with a Child’s Violin'' (1990) * ''Great Lake'' (Sydney, 1991) * ''Malachi, a charming verse novella'' (Adelaide, 1993)
''Days Beside Water''
(Auckland University Press, 1993) * ''Winter I Was'' (Victoria University Press, 1999) * ''Afternoon of an Evening Train'' (Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2005) * ''News of the Swimmer Reaches Shore'' (Carcanet Press, Manchester, 2007) * ''Beauties of the Octagonal Pool'' (Auckland University Press, 2012) *
Whale Years
' (Auckland University Press, 2015) * ''Always song in the water'' (Auckland University Press, 2019) * ''House and Contents'' (Auckland University Press, 2022) His poetry has also appeared in many anthologies including ''Islands'', ''Landfall'', ''Sport'', ''

Meanjin ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is one of Australia's longest-running literary magazines. Established in 1940 in Brisbane, it moved to Melbourne in 1945 and as of 2008 is an editorially independent impri ...

'' and '' Scripsi,'' and in His poetry has frequently been set to music by New Zealand composer

Novel

* Diesel Mystic (Auckland University Press, 1989)

Anthologies

* *''Welcome to the South Seas. Contemporary New Zealand Art for Young People (Auckland University Press, 2004)'' *
Back and Beyond: New Zealand painting for the young and curious
' (Auckland University Press, 2008)
See What I can See: New Zealand photography for the young and curious
(Auckland University Press, 2015)

Art History and Criticism

* ''Lands and Deeds: Profiles of Contemporary New Zealand Painters'' (Godwit Publishing, 1996) * ''After Bathing At Baxter's'', Victoria University Press, 2002. * ''Parihaka: The Art of Passive Resistance'' (Victoria University Press, 2005) (co-editor) * ''A Nest of Singing Birds: 100 Years of the New Zealand School Journal'' (Learning Media Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand, 2007) * ''A Micronaut in the Wide World: The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy'' (Auckland University Press, 2011) * ''His Own Stream: The Work of Barry Brickell'' (Auckland University Press, 2012) * ''Don Binney: Flight Path'' (Auckland University Press, 2023) O'Brien also appeared regularly on Kim Hill's Radio New Zealand show to talk about poetry.

Art works

O'Brien regularly exhibits his work, and his art is included in many of the major art collections of New Zealand, including the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellingtons, the Hocken Library, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs collection; the University of Auckland Art Collection and the Chartwell Collection. He also illustrates the work of other authors for books and book covers.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Gregory 1961 births Living people New Zealand journalists 20th-century New Zealand poets 20th-century New Zealand male writers New Zealand male poets University of Auckland alumni People from Matamata Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit