Big Weather

Gregory O'Brien is a Wellington-based writer, poet and artist. He is a prolific writer of non-fiction and poetry, and has co-edited a number of collections of poems, including An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English, which won the 1997 Montana Book Award for Poetry. A painter and printmaker, Gregory has held solo exhibitions and participated in group shows. Among a number of arts awards, in 2012 he was the recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement (Non-fiction) and was made an Arts Foundation Laureate in the same year. In 2013 he was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the arts. Louise St John lived in Wellington for twenty-five years. Publishing under the name Louise Lawrence White, she wrote poetry and worked as a freelance writer and editor. Her poetry was published in various journals and in the anthology Spectacular Babies (2001). Her editing work included the Penguin Book of New Zealand Letters. She died in 2009.