Life Summary

• New Zealand citizen. Born 1957, Christchurch. Educated at St Bedes College, Christchurch and Victoria and Canterbury Universities. Completed MA Hons in 1982. Doctoral research in Total Theatre led to founding of a small experimental theatre (Blue Ladder) in Christchurch 1984. Musical (independent pop and experimental groups) and theatre activities 1984-1994. Tutor at Victoria University in English Literature 1990-94 (First year and second year Middle English). Toured in NZ and overseas 1982-97. Devoted to the written word since 1997. Participation in various readings and colloquiums since then. Most recently, confirmed for two sessions at Auckland Writers Festival, May 2005.
Poetry
• Volumes of poetry in small editions: (soft-back unless stated)
Slices of Man (fragments) Prototype Publication. Christchurch. 1981. Cloth bound.
Inklings. Nags Head Press. Christchurch. 1988.
Crappings. 5 to 12. Wellington. 1993.
Evolition. Nag’s Head Press. 1995. Hard back. Cloth bound + printed dust jacket.
Freedom Tale. Brochure format. Mailed to recipients — numbered, addressed and signed. Brown Barrow. Paris. 2000.

Theatre: adaptations and music-theatre pieces
• Adaptation and direction in Christchurch, NZ of existing works by Sam Shepard (1981), W.B.Yeats (1981), medieval works (1984), texts by Antonin Artaud (1985), P.B.Shelley, and, in Wellington, Bremen Freedom, by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, reinterpreted with expressionistic music, set and rhythms, (with assistance Goethe Institut, 1989).
• Wrote and performed NZ-wide the theatre-music pieces Fawkes Alive (1989), Dial a Claw (1990), Raoul, the Prince of Jeans (1992, also performed overseas), A New Town Tale (children’s puppet musical) (1990). Gave up live performance to write fiction in 1996.
• Song-Plays, 1983-95. Alpha/Addenda 2001. “Image-rich texts in their own right, with a clearly-defined political sub-text, or … blueprints for performance.” (Lisa Warrington, NZ Books Vol 13, No 4)
Novels
• Wormwood, experimental prose. Wellington. Sport 1997.
• Nusquama, comprised of seven stories about the extended families of members of a fictitious NZ indie-pop band, including an extended novella and four short stories told in the first person. 2002. Auckland. Alpha/Addenda Publishing.
• Onævia (mythology and history of a fabulous land) 2003. Paris. Alpha.
• Jules (24 hours in the head of an art teacher) 2003-4. Auckland. Titus Books.
• Coma. Thought-streams of a casualty at a rock concert. First person narrative. (Includes as bonus stories ‘Sunshower’, previously published in Landfall,  and ‘Digging Ground’, previously published in Listener.) 2005. Titus Books.

Short stories
Since 1994 stories of varying length (500 words to 5000) have appeared in the following magazines: SPORT 18 & 20, Untold, Landfall 196, NZ Listener 1982 -2000 (also poems), JAAM 19, 22 (also poems), a reading from the novel Jules appears in Papertiger 04, Phantom #1,2,3,4,5 & 6, NZ Short Short Stories 4, Takahe 50, Luca, DAAD NZ Writers in Berlin (2002). Some stories have been broadcast on Radio New Zealand.

Music performances solo or with group The Bilders 1983–97. 80 songs have been released on many LPs/CDs, most recently ‘Girl at Night’ by James McNew of Yo La Tango.

Mixed
• 20-9-1. Twenty song lyrics, nine short stories and a theatre piece as performed by Soluble Fish Theatre group (The Shell). Prototype Publications. 1981.
• Four Soluble Plays. As performed by Soluble Fish and Blue Ladder theatre groups. Containing Babio (from Anglo-Norman). Prototype Publications. 1982.
• The Double D System. Experimental collective book design (with S. Page & C. Woodward). Screen-printed corrugated card, string and Kraft paper. Text by Louis Aragon translated by C. Woodward. 1983.
• Three Farces. Translations of medieval French farces, of which one translation and verse adaptation by this writer (Blind Man and the Boy) one collaboration (The Obstinate Wife), and song lyrics Crambo’s Song and the Ballad of Connor. South Indies Publishing. 1983.
• A Memory of Others. Thirty song lyrics and an essay on theatre/song-writing. Bumper Books. 1998.

Essays
• ‘The influence of oriental theatre forms on four twentieth century western playwrights.’ (Yeats, Artaud, Grotowski and Brecht). M.A. Thesis ‘82 (Hons 1).
• ‘Innings and outings’, sport and the erotic in New Zealand poetry. Planet magazine, 1991.
• ‘Expatriation and New Zealand Poetry’ NZ Listener 1998

Scholarships & Grants
• 1984-89 Southern, Central and Northern Arts Councils. Grants for presenting play Bitumen and numerous adaptations at Blue Ladder Theatre, Christchurch and touring of these.
• 1986 Wellington City Council. Funding and employment to perform Insect Shadow Play in Brooklyn Park.
• 1988 QEII Arts Council project grant to write and present Fawkes Alive (first performed Taki Rua Depot 1989 then toured nationally).
• 1988 Playmarket workshop at BATS Theatre for eight actors of the work-in-progress Dial a Claw.  Subsequently performed at BATS.
• 1989. Support from Goethe Institute for a production of Bremen Freedom by Rainer Fassbinder at Taki Rua Depot.
• 1990 QEII project grant to write and present Dial a Claw.
• 1990 Commission to write the music-play A New Town Tale, subsequently performed at Newtown Community Centre with children of Newtown School.
• 1991 QEII project grant for Raoul, Prince of Jeans. Subsequently performed BATS Theatre, Central Theatre, Auckland, and various locations overseas.
• 1994 Goethe Institute Language Course Scholarship to Düsseldorf.

Readings and Colloquiums
• Creative NZ Colloquium on Berlin, Illot Chamber, Wellington Town Hall, NZ. 2000.
• Dies ist eine wahre Geschichte, (DAAD) official launch of a translation by Cornelia Walter of a collection of writings by New Zealanders about Berlin. Reading of ‘The Factory’. Berlin. 2002.
• Evening of NZ Authors organised by NZ Embassy, Literaturhaus, Berlin, in honour of Witi Ihimaera. Reading of lyric and prose from Nusquama. October 2003.
• Auckland Writers and Readers Festival. (Reading from Jules and discussion session on ‘expatriated’ writing). Waterfront, Auckland. 2005.

(Updated 30 January, 2005)