Vincent O’Sullivan was a poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright, and librettist. He was a prolific writer, and one of New Zealand’s best-known. A string of poetry and short story collections preceded his first full-length novel, Let the River Stand (1993), and since then he has written fiction, verse, plays, and librettos in turn.

The recipient of many literary prizes and residencies, O’Sullivan was awarded the Creative New Zealand Michael King Writer’s Fellowship in 2004, and the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in 2006. He served as New Zealand Poet Laureate from 2013-15. O'Sullivan passed away in April 2024. Alongside his creative writing, O’Sullivan is a distinguished editor, anthologist, essayist, and biographer. As an academic, he has taught nationally and internationally, receiving numerous visiting fellowships to overseas institutions such as Yale University. This academic history informed his emergence as a Mansfield scholar, beginning with the publication of Katherine Mansfield’s New Zealand in 1974, and asserted most recently in his co-editing of The Edinburgh Edition of the Collected Works of Katherine Mansfield: Volumes 1-4 (2016). He is the author of the John Mulgan biography Long Journey to the Border: A Life of John Mulgan (2003). Biography and photograph Vincent O'Sullivan.