Michael John O’Leary

Te Arawa

1950 -

Michael O’Leary was born in Auckland and grew up in Orakei. O’Leary was educated at St Joseph’s School, Orakei Primary School, and Selwyn Secondary College in Auckland. He studied at the Universities of Auckland and Otago and graduated with a B.A. in English from Otago University in 1995. O’Leary lived in Dunedin from 1974-1980 and from 1982-83 began publishing with an emphasis on previously unpublished writers. From 1984-85 he was involved with the Project Employment Programme with the Auckland City Council and wrote two booklets on Auckland cemeteries. In 1985 he established the Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop publishing company and since that time has published some fifty titles of New Zealand poetry and prose. O’Leary established the Parimoana Bookshop in Kingsland and later in Queen Street, Auckland. O’Leary set up the O’Books Bookshop in Waikouaiti and at 10 The Octagon in Dunedin. In 1990 he was awarded a QEII Arts Council grant to pursue a writing project and received another Arts Council grant in 1996 to work on his fourth novel Unlevel Crossings. O’Leary writes poetry, novels, prose, songs, and book reviews for the Sunday Star Times. He also contributes book reviews and proof reads Kokiri Patae and the in-house newsletter for Te Puni Kokiri. In his writing he likes to expand and extend the use of language. His poetry is more traditional and subdued in style and theme in contrast with his prose which tends towards the surreal. His work has been published in Critic, Pilgrim, Anthology of Māori and Pacific Island Writing, Samoan Observer, Metro Magazine, Craccum, Titirangi Poets, Rambling Jack 2 and 3, Saoirse, Te Ao Marama edited by Witi Ihimaera and others. O’Leary and Mark Pirie edited JAAM 21 – An Anthology of Writing 1984-2004.

Biographical sources

  • Interview, phone conversation and correspondence with Michael O’Leary, 1993, 14 and 18 August, 1998, 9 and 13 July 2004.
  • Before and After. Auckland, N.Z.: Miracle Mart Receiving: E.S.A.W., [1987].
  • Arts Times Winter (1990): 18.
  • Pacific Voices: An Anthology of Māori and Pacific Writing. Comp. Bernard Gadd. Auckland, N.Z.: Macmillan, 1989.

    Children's literature

  • Te Moemoea o Te Rau Tau. Te Whanganui a Tara, Aotearoa [Wellington, N.Z.]: Te Tahuhu o te Matauranga e Te Pou Taki Korero Whaiti [Ministry of Education], 2002.

  • Fiction

  • "Neither Here Nor There." Pilgrims: The New Zealand Journal 9 (1980): 49-60. Rpt. in Before and After. [Auckland, N.Z.]: Miracle Mart Receiving: E.S.A.W. [1987]. No further details.
  • A story of five chapters in which the two main characters, Richard and Michael, live in a state of geographical disorientation - uncertain as to whether they are living in Auckland or Dunedin. The narrative spans a mix of dream, reality and fantasy.
  • "From a Long Story Entitled: ‘Neither Here Nor There’." Pilgrims 9 (1980). Rpt. in Surrogate Children. Auckland, N.Z.: Lancaster, 1981. n.pag.
  • Poems by Michael O’Leary, Sandra Bell and Brian Hare.
  • "The Story of a Man in Two Parts." Surrogate Children. Poems by Michael O’Leary, Sandra Bell and Brian Hare. Auckland, N.Z.: Lancaster, 1981. n.pag.
  • A story divided into two sections entitled the ‘Public Part’ and the ‘Private Part’ describing the inner working of a man.
  • Out Of It. [Auckland, N.Z.]: The Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, 1987.
  • O’Leary states that this is ‘a novel about the impact of a game of cricket on a man from the suburbs with Te Rauparaha as captain of the Out of It Eleven.’
  • "Noa/Nothing I (an irony)" Before and After. [Auckland, N.Z.]: Miracle Mart Receiving: E.S.A.W. [1987]. 15. Rpt. in Pacific Voices: An Anthology of Māori and Pacific Writing. Comp. Bernard Gadd. Auckland, N.Z.: Macmillan, 1989. 103. Rpt. in Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 3: Te Puāwaitanga O Te Kōrero: The Flowering. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1993. 156.
  • The speaker expresses his sense of being ‘a fragment, the lost piece of a jigsaw’ - lost, unconnected and permeated with a sense of nihility, despair and sadness.
  • "From A Work In Progress." Boomer 1991: 50-52.
  • Straight. Auckland, N.Z.: Earl of Seacliff, 1985. Extract rpt. in Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 3: Te Puāwaitanga O Te Kōrero: The Flowering. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1993. 159-162.
  • A thriller spanning dream and reality about a man returning to Auckland, N.Z. after living away from it for many years. This was adapted as a screenplay for a feature film by Martyn Sanderson entitled "Night of the Morepork" and was published in a book called Michael O’Leary’s Finger (1998).
  • Noa- Nothing I And Other Stories. Wellington, N.Z.: Original Books, 1997.
  • The Irish Annals of New Zealand. Seacliffe, N.Z.: Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, 1991. 2nd ed. in Celtic type face, 1997.
  • O’Leary writes about 150 years of New Zealand history from an Irish perspective with the focus on a main character who falls from a train.
  • Michael O’Leary Stories: Short Stories and Other Prose. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Original Books, 1999.
  • "Noa/Nothing I (an irony)." Whetu Moana: Contemporary Poems in English. Ed. Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, 2003. 152.

  • Music

  • "Twilight City." Audiocassette. 1993-4.
  • Lyrics by Michael O’Leary, music by Patsy Ryan and arrangement by Blackthorn.
  • "Just Like A Bird." Audiocassette. 1993-4.
  • Lyrics by Michael O’Leary, music by Patsy Ryan and arrangement by Blackthorn.
  • "Southerner’s Crossing." Audiocassette. 1993-4.
  • Lyrics by Michael O’Leary, music by Patsy Ryan and arrangement by Blackthorn.
  • "Potatoes, Fish and Children." Audiocassette. 1993-4.
  • Lyrics by Michael O’Leary, music by Patsy Ryan and arrangement by Blackthorn.
  • "Octagon Song." Audiocassette. 1993-4.
  • Lyrics by Michael O’Leary, music by Patsy Ryan and arrangement by Blackthorn.

    • Non-fiction

  • Gone West: Waikumete Cemetery. [Auckland, N.Z.]: Martian Way, 1984.
  • O’Leary writes a history of Waikumete Cemetery which was opened in 1886 and discusses its links with the railway. He gives an outline of the cemetery and writes of the crematorium.
  • Grafton Cemetery. [Auckland, N.Z.: Parks and Recreation Department. Auckland City Council, 1985]
  • O’Leary discusses the Auckland founders buried in Grafton Cemetery and provides a map of the cemetery and a history with reproductions of photographs by the Burton Brothers.
  • Alternative Small Press Publishing in New Zealand: An Introduction, With Particular Reference to the Years 1969-1999. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Original Books, 2002.
  • Taumarunui: Unlevel Crossings of the Literary Kind. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Original Books, 2002..
  • Text and illus. Michael O’Leary; with additional material by Iain Sharp et al; photographs by Clare O’Leary and John Girdlestone. ‘Published as a momento of the launch of Michael O’Leary’s novel Unlevel Crossings."
  • "Postwar Poet With Catholic Training." Dominion Post 24 Jan. 2008: B7.
  • "Of Poetry And Politics." Dominion Post 31 Jan. 2008: B7.

  • Other

  • City Assails: A Collection of Poetry by Secen New Auckland Writers. Auckland, N.Z.: Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, 1987.
  • Greatest Hits. Ed. Michael O’Leary and Mark Pirie. [Wellington, N.Z.]: JAAM Publishing Collective in association with HeadworX/ESAW, 2004.

  • Poetry

  • "For My Father in Prison, 1965." Before and After. [Auckland, N.Z.]: Miracle Mart Receiving: E.S.A.W. [1987]. 7. Rpt. in Pacific Voices: An Anthology of Māori and Pacific Writing. Comp. Bernard Gadd. Auckland, N.Z.: Macmillan, 1989: 75. Rpt. in Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 3: Te Puāwaitanga O Te Kōrero: The Flowering. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1993. 156. Rpt. in Whetu Moana: Contemporary Poems in English. Ed. Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, 2003. 150-151.
  • In this poem alluding to the depersonalising effects of incarceration, the speaker tells of a matchstick table constructed by his father while in prison and likens each matchstick to a ‘fragment’ of his father’s life.
  • "Saturday Night." Surrogate Children. Poems by Michael O’Leary, Sandra Bell and Brian Hare. Auckland, N.Z.: Lancaster, 1981. n.pag.
  • The reflections of an inebriated man.
  • "Poem Addressed to Poets." Surrogate Children. Poems by Michael O’Leary, Sandra Bell and Brian Hare. Auckland, N.Z.: Lancaster, 1981. n.pag.
  • A cynical reflection on the work of poets.
  • "Flip Side of the Ballad of John and Yoko." Surrogate Children. Poems by Michael O’Leary, Sandra Bell and Brian Hare. Auckland, N.Z.: Lancaster, 1981. n.pag.
  • The poet writes a tribute to John Lennon on hearing the news of his death.
  • "Watching Ghosts." Surrogate Children. Poems by Michael O’Leary, Sandra Bell and Brian Hare. Auckland, N.Z.: Lancaster, 1981. n.pag.
  • The speaker recalls his deceased parents while watching Ibsen’s Ghosts on television.
  • "To One of the Wild and Beautiful Rivers of Our Land." Surrogate Children. Poems by Michael O’Leary, Sandra Bell and Brian Hare. Auckland, N.Z.: Lancaster, 1981. n.pag.
  • The speaker likens himself to a stagnant man-made lake, remembers his former state of ‘the wild running waters’ and ponders what he was and could be.
  • "Love is Compared to the Fast-Flowing Out-Going Tide of the Manukau." Surrogate Children. Poems by Michael O’Leary, Sandra Bell and Brian Hare. Auckland, N.Z.: Lancaster, 1981. n.pag.
  • A poem describing the relationship between the earth and the moving tides.
  • "Love Poem." Surrogate Children. Poems by Michael O’Leary, Sandra Bell and Brian Hare. Auckland, N.Z.: Lancaster, 1981. n.pag.
  • A poem about the speaker’s interaction with a sleeping woman.
  • Surrogate Children. Auckland, N.Z.: Lancaster, 1981.
  • Poems by Michael O’Leary, Sandra Bell and Brian Hare.
  • "Sonnet Written Alone." Man Talk: A Collection of Poems by the Titirangi Poets. Ed. Mari Hunt. Mission Bay, Auckland, N.Z.: Writers & Artists Inc, [1984?]. n.pag.
  • A poem on solitude.
  • Ten Sonnets: Myths And Legends Of Love: Poems. Auckland, N.Z.: Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, 1984. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Martian Way; Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, 1985.
  • A collection of ten poems written in sonnet form and a series of poems about myths and legends with some poems written in English and Māori versions. O’Leary states that this collection acknowledges ‘both the literary side of things and his taha Māori.’
  • "Okahu Bay/Okahu." Trans. Alan Nopera. Before and After. Auckland, N.Z.: Miracle Mart Receiving: E.S.A.W. Earl of Seacliff Press, [1987]. Rpt. in Pacific Voices: An Anthology of Māori and Pacific Writing. Comp. Bernard Gadd. Auckland, N.Z.: Macmillan, 1989: 5-6.
  • The speaker muses on his evening at the beach where he contemplates his life, memories and unrequited love.
  • "For Rowena." Before and After. [Auckland, N.Z.]: Miracle Mart Receiving: E.S.A.W. [1987]. 8.
  • A reflection on the life and death of Jack who fell victim to cancer despite his near perfect life-style.
  • "Words Worth." Before and After. [Auckland, N.Z.]: Miracle Mart Receiving: E.S.A.W. [1987]. 9.
  • The poet ponders on the ineptness of words to truly convey human experience and concludes that ‘words approximate our existence/as they drive a wedge between communication’.
  • "I Am A Poet [First line]." Before and After. [Auckland, N.Z.]: Miracle Mart Receiving: E.S.A.W. [1987]. 14.
  • The poet likens himself to a stone - resolute, unmoved and not permitting growth.
  • "For Maria." Before and After. [Auckland, N.Z.]: Miracle Mart Receiving: E.S.A.W. [1987]. 17.
  • A brief poem of a girl meeting her father and her recollections of a grim history with the man.
  • "And What (To The S9 Track Gang)." Before and After. [Auckland, N.Z.]: Miracle Mart Receiving: E.S.A.W. [1987]. 16.
  • The last sentiments of a track gang worker.
  • Before And After. Auckland, N.Z.: Miracle Mart Receiving: E.S.A.W., [1987].
  • This collection is divided into two sections: ‘After’ which is composed of 7 poems and one prose piece, and ‘Before’ which contains one long story entitled "Neither Here Nor There.’ The writer explores issues of identity, the craft of writing, and the vicissitudes and tragedies of life.
  • Livin’ Ina Aucklan’. Illus. John Pule. Auckland, N.Z.: Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, 1988.
  • In this collection of poetry O’Leary took the five areas of Auckland, N.Z. - north, south, east, west and central - and wrote a series of poems about each collection of suburbs. The title alludes to the jive talk of the street.
  • "A Penrose Pineapple." Other Voices 2: Emerging and Established New Zealand Writers. Ed. Bernard Gadd. Auckland, N.Z.: Brick Row; Hallard Press, 1991. 33-34.
  • Wrapper. Ed. Michael O’Leary. Dunedin, N.Z.: Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop Ltd, 1992.
  • A collection of poetry and short stories by 35 New Zealand writers, in which O’Leary states that he has ‘tried to create what [he] felt was lacking in many recent anthologies of work by New Zealanders, that is a balanced representation of known and unknown writers.’
  • "Rubesahl - A Fable In Four Parts With A Prologue And Epilogue." ibid. 10-13. Rpt. in Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 3: Te Puāwaitanga O Te Kōrero: The Flowering. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1993. 157-159.
  • The tale of Rubesahl who lived for centuries in the environs of the Black Forest and takes on human form in the 1940s.
  • "Torbay Revisited." Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 3: Te Puāwaitanga O Te Kōrero: The Flowering. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1993. 155.
  • A poem in which the narrator steps into a monocultural white world and is perceived as different.
  • Win Some, Lose Some. 1993. No details.
  • A collection of poems with Bill Dacker.
  • "V. From "He Waiatanui Ki Aroha."" PRINTOUT: Literature and Arts Magazine 7 (Autumn 1994): 20.
  • The poet likens the changing colours and shapes of landscape and sky around Seacliff to his fluctuating thoughts of another person.
  • Con Art: Selected Poems. Ed. and introd. Dr. Neil Wright. Wellington, N.Z.: Original Books, 1997.
  • Shake-Speers’ Faith and Other Recent Poems. Wellington, N.Z.: Original Books, 1998.
  • O’Leary states that this collection ‘contains one long epic poem after the Spanish mode and ten other smaller poems, four of which are Elizabethan sonnets about the death of Princess Diana and the rest are based around the landscape of Paekakariki and Wellington.’
  • Out of the Deep: New Poems, 1979-1999/Ka Atu I Koopua. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Original Books, 1999.
  • T.A.B. Ula Rasa: And Selected Poems (con art). [Wellington, N.Z.]: Original Books, 2001.
  • Selected Poems (con art) previously published in 1997.
  • "Kia Aroha Rua." Whetu Moana: Contemporary Poems in English. Ed. Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, 2003. 149-150.
  • "Poem To Your Grandmother." Whetu Moana: Contemporary Poems in English. Ed. Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, 2003. 151-152.
  • Toku Tinihanga (self deception): Selected Poems 1982-2002. Foreword F. W. N. Wright. Wellington, N.Z.: HeadworX, 2003.
  • Make Love and War. Wellington, N.Z.: HeadworX, 2005.

  • Reviews

  • "Books: Dunedin - A Personal View. Rev. of Dunedin: An Essay, by Nigel Yates. Art New Zealand 47 (1988): 120-121.
  • Reviews by Vivienne Laube and Michael O’Leary.
  • "Books." Rev. of Spider Boys, by Ming Cher. Rev. of Pounding Battle: Match Report Canterbury vs South Africa July 1921. Sunday Star Times 1 Oct. 1995: D5.
  • Reviews by Michael Morrissey and Michael O’Leary.
  • "Books." Rev. of Movie Dreams, by Rosie Scott. Rev. of Coming Homes In The Dark, by Owen Marshall. Rev. of To The Land Of Light: A Saga Of Kupe And Ngahue, by Jean Irvine. Sunday Star Times 26 Nov. 1995: D6.
  • Reviews by George Moore, Micahel Morrisseyand Michael O’Leary.
  • "Books." Rev. of Wellington Harbour, by David Johnson. Rev. of Deadlines, by Gaelyn Gordon. Sunday Star Times 16 Jun. 1996: E4.
  • Reviews by Iain Sharp and Michael O’Leary.
  • "Books." Rev. of New Zealand Cricket Yarns, by Graham Hutchins. Rev. of Malo Tupou: An Oral Hisotry, by Tupou Posesi Fanua with Lois Wimberg. Sunday Star Times 9 Feb. 1997: E4.
  • Reviews by Michael O’Leary and Te Arama Menzies.
  • "Books." Rev. of Pakeha Māori, by Trevor Bentley. Rev. of the Picnic Virgin, ed. by Emily Perkins. Sunday Star Times 25 Jul. 1999: F2.
  • Reviews by Iain Sharp and Michael O’Leary.
  • "Reviews." Rev. of The Secret History Of Modernism, by C. K. Stead. Rev. of The Māori King, by John Elsdon Gorst. Sunday Star Times 25 Nov. 2001: F2.
  • Reviews by Iain Sharp and Michael O’Leary.
  • "Reviews." Rev. of Here At The End Of The World We Learn To Dance, by Lloyd Jones. Rev. of The New Zealand Year (Nga Wa O Te Ao), by Craig Potton and David Eggleton. Sunday Star Times 31 Mar. 2002: F2.
  • Reviews by Iain Sharp and Michael O’Leary.
  • "Books." Rev. of Lipstick In the Dust,by Lindsey Dawson. Rev. of More Grady’s People,by Don Grady. Sunday Star Times 4 May 2003: sup.29.
  • Reviews by Annabelle White and Michael O’Leary.

    Other

  • Langston, Richard. "Rebel Writer With A Cause." Dominion Sunday Times 10 Mar. 1991: 13.
  • Pihema, Wayne and Kurt Shanks. "PROFILE: Picking Up The Pen And Throwing Away The Hammer." Inner City News Aug. [1989?]
  • Rosier-Jones, Joan. "Coast To Coast: Early Days." Metro (Auckland) (Aug. 1987): 256.
  • "Seacliff on Display." Dunedin, N.Z. Weekender 1991. No further details.
  • "An Annotated Bibliography Of Michael O’Leary." Neil Wright. Portrait of Two Artists. Wellington, N.Z.: Original Books, 1997. Rpt. as An Annotated Bibliography Of Michael O’leary. Neil Wright. Wellington, N.Z.: Original Books, 1998.
  • This is a bibliography including all of Michael O’Leary’s publications and work he has been associated with through his publishing company The Earl Seacliff Art Workshop.

    • Reviews

    Before And After
  • Kidman, Fiona. "Books In Brief: New Zealand Creative Writing: Blue Signals." Listener 7 Nov. 1987: 76.
  • City Assails: A Collection of Poetry by Secen New Auckland Writers
  • Kidman, Fiona. "Books In Brief: Blue Signals." Listener 7 Nov. 1987. 76.
  • Gone West
  • "History Of Cemetery." Western Reader [Auckland, N.Z.], 1987. No further details.
  • Inner City News [Auckland, N.Z.], 1987. No further details.
  • Out Of It
  • Faith, Rangi. "O’Leary Out and After." Press 30 July 1988.
  • Reid, Graham. "Testing Prejudice." NZ Herald 28 Nov 1987. No further details.
  • Straight
  • "New Urban Novel." Northshore Gazette 1987. No details.
  • The Irish Annals of New Zealand
  • Eggleton, David et al. "Books." Otago Daily Times 17 Nov. 1992: 29.
  • Eggleton, David. "You Must Read This." New Zealand Books 2.3 (Dec. 1992): 2.
  • Toku Tinihanga: Selected Poems 1982-2002.
  • O’Connor, John. "Here’s Looking At You, Kid." New Zealand Books 14.3 (Aug. 2004): 17-18.
  • Sandall, Juliette et al. Books." Otago Daily Times 31 May 2003: B8.
  • Scott, L. E. "Reviews." JAAM: Just Another Art Movement 20 (Oct. 2003): 157-163.
  • Scott, L. E. Tu Mai: Offering An Indigenous New Zealand Perspective 59 Inov. 2004): 32-33.
  • Unlevel Crossings
  • Anderson, Molly et al. "Books." Otago Daily Times 17 Aug. 2002: B6.
  • Bieder, Penelope et al. "Weekend Books." New Zealand Herald 17 Aug. 2002: G6.
  • Eggleton, David. "Reviews." JAAM: Just Another Art Movement 19 (May 2003): 235-238.
  • Sharp, Iain. "Kia Ora, Begorrah!" Sunday Star Times 16 Jun. 2002: C7.
  • Sharp, Iain. "Bookmarks." Sunday Star Times 18 Aug. 2002: C7.
  • Wrapper
  • James, Bryan (and others). Otago Daily Times 16 Nov. 1992: 36-37.