Kevin Ireland

Kevin Ireland

OBE
Ireland in 2000
Ireland in 2000
BornKevin Mark Jowsey
(1933-07-18)18 July 1933
Auckland, New Zealand
Died19 May 2023(2023-05-19) (aged 89)
Auckland, New Zealand
OccupationWriter
GenrePoetry
SpouseJanet Wilson

Kevin Mark Ireland OBE (né Jowsey; 18 July 1933 – 19 May 2023) was a New Zealand poet, short story writer, novelist and librettist.[1]

Early life and career

Ireland was born Kevin Mark Jowsey in Auckland on 18 July 1933. As an infant he travelled to London with his parents where they lived for a time before returning to New Zealand. Shortly thereafter, his parents' marriage failed and he grew up on his maternal grandfather's Waikato farm, and then in Takapuna where he lived with his father. After leaving school, he studied at Auckland Teachers' College but did not complete a qualification.[2]

After changing his surname by deed poll to Ireland in 1957,[3] he headed to London in 1959 where he remained for twenty-five years (with the interlude of a short interval in Bulgaria, translating Bulgarian poetry into English); for two decades, Ireland was employed by The Times.

In 1986, Ireland was writer-in-residence at the University of Canterbury; in 1987, he was awarded the Sargeson Fellowship; in 1989, he was the University of Auckland's writing fellow, assistant editor of Quote Unquote, and president of PEN, 1990–91.[4]

Personal life and death

Ireland's first wife was Bulgarian film critic Donna Marinova whom he met and wed in Sofia in 1959 [1]. After he spent 20 months in Bulgaria, the Communist authorities allowed Donna to leave the country and the young family moved to London. Ten years later they divorced. Ireland's second wife was Phoebe Caroline Dalwood (1940–2007);[5] Ireland had two sons and lived in Devonport, New Zealand.[1] He re-married in 2012 to Professor Janet Mary Wilson. Ireland died after a battle with cancer in Auckland, on 19 May 2023, at the age of 89.[6]

Honours and awards

Works

  • Face to Face: Twenty-Four Poems. Pegasus Press. 1963. ISBN 978-1-877577-69-7.
  • Educating the Body. Cayton Press. 1967.
  • A Letter from Amsterdam. 1972.
  • Orchids, Hummingbirds and Other Poems. Auckland University Press. 1974. ISBN 9780196479132.
  • A Grammar of Dreams. Wai-te-ata Press. 1975. ISBN 9780465026951.
  • Literary Cartoons. 1977.
  • The Dangers of Art. 1980. ISBN 9780908599066.
  • Practice Night in the Drill Hall: Poems. OUP Australia and New Zealand. 1984. ISBN 9780195581164.
  • The Year of the Comet. Islands. 1986. ISBN 0473003775.
  • Selected Poems. OUP Australia and New Zealand. 1988. ISBN 978-0195581683.
  • Tiberius at the Beehive. Auckland University Press. 1990. ISBN 9781869400439.
  • Skinning a fish. Hazard Press. 1994. ISBN 978-0908790777.
  • Anzac Day: Selected Poems. Hazard Press. 1997. ISBN 978-1-877161-11-7.
  • Fourteen reasons for writing: new poems. Hazard Press. 2001. ISBN 978-1-877270-08-6.
  • Walking the land. Hazard Press. 2003. ISBN 978-1-877270-52-9.
  • Airports and other wasted days. Hazard Press. 2007. ISBN 9781877393341.
  • How to Survive the Morning. Cape Catley. 2008. ISBN 9781877340178.
  • Table Talk. 2009.
  • Dreamy Days and Nothing Done. Steele Roberts Aotearoa. 2012. ISBN 978-1-877577-69-7.
  • Selected Poems 1963-2013. Steele Roberts Aotearoa. 2013. ISBN 978-1-927242-16-2.
  • Feeding the birds. Steele Roberts Aotearoa. 2014. ISBN 978-1-927242-81-0.
  • Looking out to sea. Steele Roberts Aotearoa. 2015. ISBN 978-1-927242-92-6.
  • Humphry Bogart's great sacrifice. Steele Roberts Aotearoa. 2016. ISBN 978-0-947493-36-3.
  • A fine morning at Passchendaele. Steele Roberts Aotearoa. 2018. ISBN 978-0-947493-67-7.
  • Keeping a grip. Steele Roberts Aotearoa. 2018. ISBN 978-0-94749380-6.
  • Shape of the heart. Quentin Wilson Publishing. 2020. ISBN 978-0-9951329-6-2.
  • Just like that. Quentin Wilson Publishing. 2022. ISBN 978-0-9951437-3-9.

Short stories

Novels

Editor

  • The New Zealand Collection: A Celebration of the New Zealand Novel. Random House. 1990. ISBN 9781869540074.

Memoirs

References

  1. ^ a b Profile, International Who's Who in Poetry and Poets' Encyclopaedia; accessed 23 September 2015.
  2. ^ "The interview – Kevin Ireland". Academy of New Zealand Literature. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  3. ^ "Deed Poll changing surname. Kevin Mark Ireland (Jowsey)". Archives New Zealand. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  4. ^ Profile, bookcouncil.org.nz; accessed 23 September 2015.
  5. ^ "Ireland, Phoebe Caroline, active 1940-2005". Ireland, Phoebe Caroline, active 1940... | Items | National Library of New Zealand | National Library of New Zealand. 1 January 1940. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  6. ^ Waiwri-Smith, Lyric. "Kevin Ireland, award-winning Kiwi poet and writer, dies at 89: 'Going gently into the wild night'". Stuff. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  7. ^ "No. 52953". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 13 June 1992. p. 30.
  8. ^ "Honorary degree citations". Massey University. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  9. ^ "Previous winners". Creative New Zealand. Retrieved 24 October 2013.