Sullivan, Robert

[Photograph: Jan Kemp (2002)]

Robert Sullivan (b. 1967)

Contents:

New New Zealand Poets in Performance (2008):

Waka 46
V Honda Waka
Waka 70 i Matakitaki
Waka 62 A narrator’s note

Aotearoa NZ Poetry Sound Archive (2004):

CD36

1. Waka 16 Kua wheturangitia koe
2. Waka 45
3. Waka 46
4. Waka 99
5. Waka 100
6. V Honda Waka
7. Waka 78 An historical line
8. Waka 94
9. Waka 83
10. Waka 70 i Matakitaki
11. Waka 62 A narrator’s note
12. Waka 29 waka taua

Bio / Bibliography:

Robert Sullivan is a member of the Maori tribe Nga Puhi of Northland in New Zealand. He is also of Galway Irish descent.

Since 1990 he has written four books of poetry published by Auckland University Press (most recently, Captain Cook in the Underworld, which is also a libretto for a composition by John Psathas), a graphic novel illustrated by Chris Slane called Maui: legends of the outcast, and a children’s book Weaving earth and sky: myths and legends of Aotearoa (Random House) - which won both Book of the Year and the Non-Fiction Category in the 2003 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. His first book, Jazz Waiata, won the PEN (NZ) Best First Book of Poetry award. He has most recently co-edited with Professor Albert Wendt and Reina Whaitiri an anthology of Polynesian poetry in English, Whetu Moana (AUP and UHP, 2003).

In 1998 he was the Literary Fellow at the University of Auckland, and in 2001 the Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Hawaii.

He has twice been a finalist in the national New Zealand Book Awards for poetry – for Star Waka in 2000, and Captain Cook in the Underworld in 2003.

Robert has performed his poetry at many festivals and literary events within New Zealand, Canada, Hawai’i, and Germany.

Selected Bibliography

POETRY:

1. Jazz Waiata. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1990.
2. Piki Ake! Poems 1990-1992 Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1993.
3. Star Waka. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2000.
4. Captain Cook in the Underworld. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2003.
5. Voice Carried my Family. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2005.
6. Cassino City of Martyrs / Città Martire. Wellington: Huia, 2010.
7. Shout Ha! to the Sky. UK: Salt, 2010.

FICTION:

1. Weaving Earth and Sky: Myths and Legends of Aotearoa. Illustrations by Gavin Bishop. Auckland: Random House, 2002.
2. Maui: Legends of the Outcast. Illustrations by Chris Slane. Godwit Press, 1996.

EDITED:

1. [with Brian Flaherty, Tony Murrow and Anne Kennedy]. Trout: Online Journal of Arts & Literature from Aotearoa/New Zealand and the Pacific Islands [www.trout.auckland.ac.nz] (1997- ).
2. [with Reina Whaitiri]. Homeland: New Writing from America, the Pacific and Asia. Special issue of the journal Manoa, vol. 9, no. 1. Hawai‘i: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1997.
3. Proceedings: International Indigenous Librarians’ Forum. Auckland: Te Ropu Whakahau, 2001.
4. [with Albert Wendt and Reina Whaitiri]. Whetu Moana: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2003.
5. [with Anne Kennedy]. Best New Zealand Poems 2006. Wellington: IIML, 2006.
6. [with Albert Wendt and Reina Whaitiri]. Mauri Ola: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English – Whetu Moana II. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2010.