Robert Sullivan

Robert Sullivan (born 1967) is a Māori poet, academic and editor. His published poetry collections include Jazz Waiata (1990), Star Waka (1999) and Shout Ha! to the Sky (2010). His books are postmodern, explore social and racial issues, and explore aspects of Māori culture and history. Biography Sullivan is of Māori and Irish descent. His grandfather was an immigrant to New Zealand from Galway. He identifies with the Ngā Puhi (Ngāti Manu/Ngāti Hau) and Kāi Tahu iwi, and describes himself as multicultural. He graduated from the University of Auckland with a PhD, supervised by Selina Tusitala Marsh, and worked as Associate Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Programme at the University of Hawaiʻi. Sullivan led until recently the creative writing programme at the Manukau Institute of Technology before becoming the Deputy Chief Executive Māori there from 2018 to 2020. He is an editor of online literary journal trout. Writing Sullivan's ten books include the bestselling Star Waka (1999), reprinted five times and shortlisted in 2000 for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. Maui: Legends of the Outcast (1997), illustrated by Chris Slane and "one of New Zealand's first graphic novels", was shortlisted for the LIANZA Russell Clark Medal. His book-length poem Captain Cook in the Underworld was long-listed for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in the Poetry Category. It was originally commissioned as the libretto for an oratorio by noted composer John Psathas which has been performed at the Wellington and Auckland Town Halls by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Orpheus Choir of Wellington. His first collection, Jazz Waiata, won the PEN (NZ) Best First Book Award, and his children's retelling of Māori myths and legends, Weaving Earth and Sky, illustrated by Gavin Bishop, won the non-fiction category and was Children's Book of the Year in the 2003 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards. With Albert Wendt and Reina Whaitiri, he has co-edited several anthologies of poetry. Their Polynesian poetry anthology, Whetu Moana, won the Reference and Anthology category in the 2004 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, and their Māori poetry anthology, Puna Wai Kōrero, won the 2015 Creative Writing category in the Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards.