Robert Sullivan (* 1967) is an important Māori writer from Aotearoa/New Zealand.
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Robert Sullivan is of Māori and Irish descent. He belongs to the Māori tribes Ngā Puhi (Ngāti Manu/Ngāti Hau) as well as to Kāi Tahu and describes himself as multicultural.[1] So far, he has published several books and collections of different style and theme - but all explore dimensions of Māori tradition as well as "contemporary urban experiences, including local racial and social concerns."[2] His writing has a post modern feel and shows acute awareness of important Aotearoa/New Zealand issues while linking them in a complex way back to the cultural past.[3] In the poetic narrative STAR WAKA (1999) for example, Mr. Sullivan employs traditional Māori story-telling techniques (oral tradition) in order to link contemporary and traditional topics from Aotearoa/New Zealand with concepts and ideas from a European background. This approach allows him to study the identity relation between Māori and Pākehā within transcultural "themes of voyaging, personal and national, of the poet and of Māori."[4] He is one of the editors of the online journal trout since its foundation in 1997. At the moment, Robert Sullivan is - supported by several literary awards and his successful professional career - "widely seen as one of the most important contemporary Māori poets."[5]