Richard Von Sturmer

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Von Sturmer, Richard (1957 – ) is a writer, performer and film-maker.

Richard von Sturmer was born in Devonport, Auckland in 1957. He has written plays, performance pieces and lyrics for New Zealand bands such as Blam Blam Blam, but is principally known for his poetry.

His first book of poetry, We Xerox Your Zebras (Modern House) appeared in 1988. Reviewing the book in the Listener 25 February, 1989, Harvey McQueen said 'Of all the slim volumes reviewed here, this is the one to which I keep returning […] his use of language, rebukes the rest for their over-explanation and literalism.'

Von Sturmer’s written work has been published in many anthologies, including An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English (Oxford University Press, 1997) and has often appeared in literary journals such as Sport, Landfall and brief.

Three other books of poetry have been published: A Network of Dissolving Threads (Auckland University Press, 1991), Images from the Center (Rochester Zen Center, 1998) and Suchness: Zen Poetry and Prose (HeadworX, 2005). Von Sturmer often uses the poetic forms haiku and tanka, a Japanese verse form, and his haiku have been widely anthologised.

In 2003 he received the brief Writer’s Award for a two-month writer-in-residency on Great Barrier Island. His poem ‘Gathering Clouds’ was selected for Best New Zealand Poems 2003.

Von Sturmer lived for ten years at the Rochester Zen Center, a Buddhist Community in upstate New York where he undertook zen training. He returned to New Zealand in 2003 and now lives and works in Auckland.

Richard von Sturmer‘s poetry collection Book of Equanimity Verses (Puriri Press, 2013) is inspired by Wang Wei’s Zen text, The Book of Equanimities (100 koans). Reviewer Paula Green described the collection as 'a book of sweet harmonies, unexpected, enthralling.'