AUT - Who's Who at the Centre
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Who's Who at the Centre
 Paul Mountfortis Chair of the Centre for Creative Writing at AUT. He is author of Nordic Runes and Ogam — books on the uses of ancient scripts in arts, letters and the imagination. |
 James George(mentor, senior lecturer) is a novelist, short story writer and author of Wooden Horses and award winning Zeta Orionis. |
 Mike JohnsonMike Johnson (mentor; senior lecturer) has over a dozen full-length novels, short story collections and books of poetry to his name. |
 Nick Ward(mentor) is currently one of New Zealand's most prolific writers. His first film 'Stickmen' sold to 26 countries around the world and is widely quoted as a favourite New Zealand film. |
 Siobhan Harvey(mentor, guest lecturer) is a poet, prose writer, editor, reviewer, and teacher. She has worked as a creative writing teacher in Manchester (UK). |
 Dylan Horrocks(mentor) is New Zealand’s most celebrated graphic novel (comics) artist. He is author of the Hicksville, the comic book series Pickle and Atlas. |
 Stephanie Johnson(mentor) is most published novelists, short story writers and poets. Her numerous novels have received many significant awards.
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 Darryl Hocking(exegesis supervisor) senior lecturer is a discourse analyst with a background in art and design and a special interest in discourses of creativity. |
Paul Mountfort
Paul Mountfort (PhD English, University of Auckland) is Chair of the Centre for Creative Writing at AUT.
He is author of Nordic Runes (Vermont, US: ITI, 2003) and Ogam (Random House, UK: 2001), full-length books on the uses of ancient scripts in arts, letters and the imagination. His primary research interests are in the oracle-text as a popular genre, a subject about which he has both written widely and spoken to at numerous conferences, including (American) Popular Culture Association annual conferences in San Diego, Atlanta, San Francisco and New Orleans.
He is currently contracted for two further books with Edwin Mellen Press (New York), and in 2009 was a visiting scholar at Shanghai Normal University and Tianjin University of Commerce. In 2010 he is the Area Chair of Graphic Novels, Comics and Visual Cultures for the PopCAANZ (Popular Culture Association Australia/New Zealand) conference in June/July, Sydney.
Paul is the founding programme leader of AUT's BA English and New Media Studies and BA Creative Writing programmes, and was recipient of the sole inaugural Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching (2006).
James George
James George (mentor, senior lecturer) is a novelist and short story writer of Ngapuhi, English and Irish descent. He is author of Wooden Horses (Hazard Press, 2000), Zeta Orionis (an excerpt from his second novel Hummingbird) which won the premiere award in the 2001 Maori Literature Awards and was a finalist in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2004 and for the 2005 Tasmania Pacific Fiction Prize.
Writing in the NZ Herald Margie Thomson describes Hummingbird as 'demanding and ambitious … [and] above all incredibly moving'. Ocean Roads (Huia, 2006) appeared on The 2007 Commonwealth Writers' Prize Shortlist as one of the Best Books in the South East Asia and South Pacific region and was been shortlisted in the fiction category of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2007.
He has also contributed 'Figures on Ice' to The Best of New Zealand Fiction. Volume Three (Vintage, 2006), and has taught and mentored on both AUT and University of Auckland's Master of Creative Writing programmes
Darryl Hocking
Darryl Hocking (exegesis supervisor; senior lecturer) is a discourse analyst with a background in art and design and a special interest in discourses of creativity. He has worked with some of the top researchers in his field in the world.
Darryl is currently completing a Doctor of Philosophy at Macquarie University (Sydney) which explores the linguistic and rhetorical characteristics of the 'brief' genre, its conditions of production and reception, and how these impact on and discursively facilitate student creative action. This research is being supervised by Professor Emeritus Christopher N. Candlin.
He is also a musician with the Auckland band Snake Salvador, which has received considerable air-time recently. His research into exegesis in the art and design context informs his supervision of the creative writing exegesis component.
Dylan Horrocks
Dylan Horrocks (mentor) is New Zealand's most celebrated graphic novel (comics) artist. He is author of the Hicksville (VUP, 2010), the comic book series Pickle (Black Eye, 1992-1997) and Atlas (Drawn & Quarterly, 2001-2006), and numerous short comics published in books and magazines around the world. He has also written for DC Comics, including Batgirl and Vertigo's Hunter: The Age of Magic.
His satirical strip 'Milo's Week' appeared in the NZ Listener in 1995-1997 and a selection of his political cartoons, Better Luck Next Century, was published in 2001 (Top Shelf). He has also written and lectured widely about comics, writing and art. He publishes work online Hicksville Comics.
Stephanie Johnson
Stephanie Johnson (mentor) is among New Zealand's most published novelists, short story writers and poets. Her numerous novels have received many significant awards. Her dramatic work for stage and radio is similarly recognised.
The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature notes: "Johnson's work is marked by a dry irony, a sharp-edged humour that focuses unerringly on the frailties and foolishness of her characters. Pomposity and self-delusion are favourite targets — the creative writing tutor in 'A One-Page Statement', the eager New Age clients in 'The Deep Resounding', the arrogant Werner in 'Menschenfresser', or the vicar’s wife in The Heart’s Wild Surf".
Her writing is recognized locally and internationally, and the awards she has been nominated for reflect her broad appeal. She is the founder of the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival, and has taught and mentored on both AUT and the University of Auckland's Master of Creative Writing programmes.
Mike Johnson
Mike Johnson (mentor; senior lecturer) has over a dozen full-length novels, short story collections and books of poetry to his name.
His novels are Lear — The Shakespeare Company Plays Lear at Babylon (1986), Anti Body Positive (1987), Foreigners: Three Novellas (1991), Lethal Dose (1991) Dumb Show (1996), Counterpart (2001), and Stench (2004). He has tutored creative writing for over 20 years at the University of Auckland, most recently as a mentor on their Master of Creative Writing programme, and has been writer in residence at both Auckland and Canterbury universities.
His prose has been described "in terms of magic realism, though with a distinctive science fiction component, influenced by such US writers as Philip K. Dick and Barry M. Maltzberg, and with idiosyncratic Gothic elements. By contrast, his poetry is minimalist with flashes of lyricism, formerly in the style of Robert Creeley and translations of Chinese poets, though increasingly in the elusive manner of Pablo Neruda."
He has been instrumental in the establishment of AUT's BA Creative Writing and lectured on both AUT and the University of Auckland's Master of Creative Writing English programmes.
Siobhan Harvey
Siobhan Harvey (mentor, guest lecturer) is a poet, prose writer, editor, reviewer, and teacher. She has worked as a creative writing teacher in Manchester (UK), University of Auckland, and now AUT.
She is poetry editor of Takahe magazine, consulting editor for International Literary Quarterly and she has been the National Coordinator of National Poetry Day since 2009. Her writing has appeared in a wide range of national and international publications, including Landfall, International Literary Quarterly, NZ Listener, The Press, and Meanjin.
Her writing also features in several anthologies, including Swings and Roundabouts: Poems about Parenting (Godwit, 2008), and A Good Handful: Poems about Sex (AUP, 2008). Her work has been broadcast on Radio New Zealand. In 2009 she was Auckland Regional Council Writer in Residence at Awhitu Reserve, and in 2008 she was runner-up in the inaugural Bernard Gadd Memorial Poetry Prize, and runner-up again in 2009.
Nick Ward
Nick Ward (mentor) is currently one of New Zealand's most prolific writers. His first film 'Stickmen' sold to 26 countries around the world and is widely quoted as a favourite New Zealand film.
It won awards for best director, best actor, best supporting actor and best screenplay at the New Zealand film awards. Most importantly, it was the springboard that helped Nick make the move to being a full-time writer. His most recent film, 'Second Hand Wedding', has just become New Zealand's seventh highest grossing local film, just in front of 'Goodbye Pork Pie'.
He has also written episodes and developed storylines for New Zealand's favourite TV series 'Outrageous Fortune'. His latest film — starring Rhys Darby and a duck — is now shooting in Auckland. (From Nick's biopic for the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival).