Five minutes with Kevin Ireland
Kevin Ireland (pictured: ‘Self-Portrait’ oil on canvas, 500mm x 600, 2004) is a poet, short story writer, novelist, librettist and painter. Born Kevin Jowsey in Auckland’s Mount Albert in 1933, when he was 24 he changed his surname to the name of the street he happened to be walking along at the time. He went to England in 1959, remaining there for 25 years (with the exception of a spell in Bulgaria where, using only “restaurant Bulgarian”, he translated poetry into English). Living in London, he worked as a sub-editor for The Times. But he’s always considered himself a New Zealand poet and claims he never really left. His work appeared in Mate, Landfall and Islands and he found he was spending more time in Kiwi company, until he realised he might as well come back: “We were the end of the hippie trail that led through Katmandu to our house in Maida Vale,” he says. So in 1974 he returned to New Zealand, and settled on Auckland’s North Shore in 1985. How to Catch a Fish (2005) is non-fiction and one of his best-selling books. In it he not only gives advice on getting started but also warns against over-fishing. His latest collection of poems, the thoroughly enjoyable Airports and Other Wasted Days, has just been published by Hazard Press. We were after some trade secrets, so NZBC enticed Kevin with a glass of Lemora wine. Read on…
posted by Chris Bell at 12:24 PM
1 Comments:
Wonderful. Thank you, NZBC.
Talk about a living national treasure.
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