Rachel Bush
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Rachel Bush | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 December 1941 Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Died | 23 March 2016 (aged 74) Nelson, New Zealand |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Spouse | Richard Nunns |
Rachel Bush (26 December 1941 — 23 March 2016) was a New Zealand poet and teacher. Her work was widely published in books, anthologies and literary magazines.
Bush was born in 1941 in Christchurch[1] and grew up in Hāwera.[2] She taught English at Nelson College for Girls until 2003.[2][3]
She was a member of the first MA course in creative writing run by Bill Manhire at Victoria University of Wellington in 1996[3][4] and her first book of poetry, The Hungry Woman, was based on work written during that course.[2] Her work was published in Best New Zealand Poems[5][6] and in 4th Floor Literary Journal[7] as well as on online poetry blogs[8] and in journals including Sport, Landfall, Turbine[9] and Faber's Introduction.[3]
In 2004, she was poet in residence at Wellington Hospital as part of the Poets in Workplaces Scheme.[10] The resulting poems were published as a booklet by the Wai-te-ata Press in 2006, accompanied by photographs taken in the Neonatal Unit by Alan Knowles.[11] One of her poems, "Cicadas", was set to music by Gillian Whitehead, having been commissioned by harpist Helen Webby (with funding from Creative New Zealand).[12][13][14]
Bush was married to musician Richard Nunns and had two daughters and five grandchildren.[4] She died on 23 March 2016, a month before the publication of Thought Horses, although a copy of the book was ready in time for her to see it.[15][16][17] Thought Horses was posthumously longlisted for the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.[18]
Bibliography
- The Hungry Woman (Victoria University Press, 1997)
- The Unfortunate Singer (Victoria University Press, 2002)[19]
- All patients report here, with photos by Alan Knowles (Wai-te-ata Press, 2006)
- Nice Pretty Things (Victoria University Press, 2011)[20][21][22][23]
- Thought Horses (Victoria University Press, 2016)[1][24][25]
