"After doing my research, soliciting and collecting all the articles, I started to think of a way to put together a book on the Earl. I had several ideas: one was doing a kind of 'rock star' presentation of the Earl as the best way to bring out his unique personality and qualities as an artist, writer, performer and bookshop proprietor as well as highlighting the wide range of interests throughout his life. Secondly, there was a desire to put together a type of 'literary companion' to ESAW. Many of the pieces chosen on his novels for instance will help to treat the work more seriously and provide scholars and researchers starting points for further discussion of his work. The final idea was doing a book in celebration of the Earl and his life (on the 25th Anniversary of his publishing company). The 'rock star' A to Z approach also seemed to be the best way to maintain a focus on the texts at hand as well as inclusiveness (a hallmark of Michael's publishing approach). Unfortunately, not every book published by ESAW could be included and in some instances the 'rock' theme behind the book helped shape the selection with a majority of the books and poems discussed here having some cross over between literary culture and pop culture" - Mark Pirie (editor of The Earl is in ... 25 Years of the Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop)Some of those featured in the book include: David Eggleton, Elizabeth Smither, Nigel Brown, Gregory O'Brien, Roger Steele, Iain Sharp, John Quilter and many others from the New Zealand literary and artistic community. This book is destined to become a valuable resource for anyone interested in NZ literature over the past quarter of a century, it is also an entertaining look at the bohemian culture of the time, full of rich anecdotes as well as factual information

25 Years of the Earl of Seacliff

"The history of small, private presses in this country is also (largely) the history of our literature." (Michael Gifkins' 1990 'Bookmarks', New Zealand Listener). This quote graphically states the case for the important place small press publishing has in the literary culture of Aotearoa New Zealand. Expanding this further, it is true to say that without the existence of such presses many of our writers, both well-known and obscure, may never have had the opportunity of being published authors, especially at the fledgling time of their career. This book, will endeavour to prove that our literature would be the poorer if such publishers didn't exist, that we may have little literary industry or culture without them.

Alternative Small Press Publishing in New Zealand

Excerpt from Introduction by Iain Sharp: "Irishness, Maoritanga, proudly held working-class values, rock 'n' roll, buses, trains, ferries, Baudelaire - you'll find them all in this book. Moods vary from poem to poem, as you would expect from a lifetime's work. Inevitably, there are moments of sadness and a deep anger at social inequities underlies some of the satire. Yet what strikes me most when I leaf through Michael's collected poems is how often the tone is celebratory. What prompts Michael to write? I think he's driven by a need to pay homage to the people (whether pop stars, pals or partners), places and times he's loved. There's an inextinguishable joyousness at the heart of Michael's work that makes reading him an upbeat and uplifting experience."

Collected Poems: 1981–2016

A novel that explores the effect of modern technology on the individual. It looks at the generation of the 1930s Nazis whose mantra was 'All You Need is Hate' and contrasts it with the 1960s 'All You Need is Love' of The Beatles. Magic Alex fifty years later in the 2000s sits in his Cell Phone cell in a mental hospital and contemplates the modern generation where there's so much communication there's no communication. Another DADA/Surrealist view of present day life. Responses to Michael O'Leary's novel Magic Alex's Revenge'Magic Alex's Revenge is a complex and often beguiling look at the 'Sixties' generation of peace and love and anti-materialism degenerated into the 'I, me, mine' selfishness sparked by the mid-eighties Rogernomics which continues into the 21st Century Schizoid Person, fuelled by technology and greed'. Brian E. Turner, liner notes 2008 'Many people of Michael O'Leary's generation and later have tried to write a novel in what might be called a post-modernist way. It seems to me that O'Leary has made a success of this mode of fiction simply by working harder and longer than most people, 30 years at least on this book'. Dr. F. W. N. Wright, at the launch of Magic Alex's Revenge

Magic Alex's Revenge

The Irish Annals of New Zealand is essentially a Joycean tour-de-force through New Zealand's history from the Irish rather than the usual English point of view. However, as well as historical facts the novel incorporates many other linguistic and language conceits and concepts. The story begins with the main character falling from a train, having opened the wrong door because he is drunk. He lies dying alone in the falling snow of the central North Island. During the course of the novel he is visited by several of his ancestors, Irish and Maori, who tell him about his life. He also turns into other life forms. Straight was adapted for the theatre and reviews of the play are below the reviews of the book. Responses to Michael O'Leary's novel The Irish Annals of New ZealandThe Irish Annals of New Zealand is from the other side of the fence, mixing the stories of the two rebel cultures in this country - the Irish and the Maori'. Richard Langston, Dominion Sunday Times, 10 March 1991 'Both a long cry of social maladjustment and a virtuoso manipulation of word associations, this novel makes a tuneful medley out of ordinary everyday speech'. David Eggleton, Otago Daily Times 1992 'The music was witty, inventive, altogether a piece with the other elements of a production crammed with physical and verbal jokes, wordplay in several languages, pratfalls and profundities, and passages of real pathos'. Martyn Sanderson, Kapiti Observer, 12 February 2001[review of the play Irish Annals of Aotearoa by Simon O'Connor based on O'Leary's The Irish Annals of New Zealand - the play was directed by David O'Donnell with music direction by Chris O'Connor, for which he won Best Original Music at the Chapman Tripp Awards 2001 for his work on the play Irish Annals of Aotearoa. The play was also nominated for several other Chapman Tripp Awards in 2001].'a streamlined, sizzling, lunatic play'Bernadette Hall in Theatre News 2001 [on Irish Annals of Aotearoa]

The Irish Annals of New Zealand

Michael O'Leary tells the story of factory worker Patrick Mika Fitzgerald, who after several years of working at the same job and looking after his ailing mother, is freed from these ties by death and redundancy. He embarks on an existential train journey in pursuit of a woman he has dreamed of meeting. When reality and dreams colide his world is turned into a previously unknown state of moral real dilema. Responses to Michael O'Leary's novel Unlevel Crossings'Unlevel Crossings is a Joycean language experience and partly it's a literary and political satire, but I think it's also a down-to-earth book about recent changes in New Zealand society.'Iain Sharp, Sunday Star Times feature article 16/06/02'A wonderful pageant...''The book is rich with Maori poetry, Maori vocabulary, and not ostentatious...''The book is totally natural ... and astonishing textured language ...''... a very rewarding book indeed ...''... Michael O'Leary is a very distinctive and very singular writer and person in New Zealand ...''... it's a lovely magic exploration on all sorts of levels ...'David Hill, reviewer, Radio New Zealand 31/07/02'Michael O'Leary ... has a poet's love of the sounds of words ...'Gavin McLean, reviewer, Otago Daily Times 17/08/02'This gets my vote as the most original New Zealand novel of the year.'Iain Sharp, Reviewer, Sunday Star Times 18/08/02'O'Leary can pull out the most heartfelt prose, particularly when describing the natural beauty of this land.'Michael Larson, reviewer, New Zealand Herald 20/08/02'It is a splendidly droll novel, memorably comic in its unlevel absurdities, its crossover jesting.'David Eggleton, in JAAM 19, 2003.

Unlevel Crossings

Straight is set in early 1980's Auckland and begins with Paul Calvert's return to that city after several years in the mysterious place called 'Dreamland'. Fighting off several flash-backs he discovers that reality can often be stranger than dreams. Along the way he discovers things about his past that he had no conception of and his whole life is brought into existential question. Was his own birth due to an SS experiment during World War Two to create an 'Aryan Maori', were his presumed parents gun-runners for the IRA, and who are the people following him around the city in a black Mercedes Benz? Add to this a surreal mix of local characters from the still down-at-heel Ponsonby drug scene and the upper-class opulence of Remuera and you have a novel alive with energy and surprise. In the background is the developing love story of Paul and Hine. Also the city of Auckland becomes a character itself, much in the way Graham Greene used his locations to define and enhance many of his novels.  Responses to Michael O'Leary's novel Straight'There has been enough of the humourless and bleak 'man alone' theme in New Zealand writing. Straight is a positive attempt to counter these traditions. In it the main character comes from being isolated to joining a family network'. Inner City News book reviewer, Auckland, 1985'I'd cooked up some ink and charcoal drawings for Michael O'Leary's first novel, Straight which appeared thanks to the guile of Professor Terry Sturm'. Gregory O'Brien, Essay for The Earl is in. Wellington, 2008

Straight:  A novel in the Irish-Māori tradition

"More than ever before, this is the book our economy needs." - Dr. Rajiv Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation"Unwilling to settle for easy answers or superficial changes, O'Leary and Valdmanis push us all to ask more of our economic system." - Senator Michael F. BennetThis provocative book takes us inside the fight to save capitalism from itself. Corporations are broken, reflecting no purpose deeper than profit. But the tools we are relying on to fix them-corporate social responsibility, divestment, impact investing, and government control-risk making our problems worse. With lively storytelling and careful analysis, O'Leary and Valdmanis cut through the tired dogma of current economic thinking to reveal a hopeful truth: If we can make our corporations accountable to a deeper purpose, we can make capitalism both prosperous and good. What happens when the sustainability-driven CEO of Unilever takes on the efficiency-obsessed Warren Buffett? Does Kellogg's-a company founded to serve a healthy breakfast-have a sacred duty to sell sugary cereal if that's what maximizes profit? For decades, government has tried to curb CEO pay but failed. Why? Can Harvard students force the university to divest from oil and gas? Does it even matter if they do?O'Leary and Valdmanis, two iconoclastic investors, take us on a fast-paced insider's journey that will change the way we look at corporations. Likely to spark controversy among cynics and dreamers alike, this book is essential reading for anyone with a stake in reforming capitalism-which means all of us.

Accountable - The Rise of Citizen Capitalism

Michael O'Leary, né le 20 mars 1961 à Mullingar dans le comté de Westmeath (province de Leinster), est l'actuel dirigeant de la compagnie Ryanair et l'un des hommes les plus riches d'Irlande, avec une fortune estimée à plus d'un milliard de dollars en 2018.

J'ai plus d'argent que ce dont j'aurai besoin. Financièrement, je vais bien pour les deux prochaines centaines d'années.

Les forces de police étaient exceptionnelles dans leur domaine. Mais tout ce qu'ils ont fait était de se tenir dans leur domaine. Ils ont gardé les passagers à bord alors qu'ils jouaient avec un forfait suspect pendant deux et trois quarts d'heures. Extraordinaire.

Nous avons besoin de plus de gens pour se lancer dans les affaires et moins de gaspillage de nos vies devenant des bureaucrates et des fonctionnaires.

Le transport aérien n'est qu'une opération de bus glorifiée.

Je devrais obtenir le prix Nobel de la paix - Vis Bono.

L'Union européenne passe la plupart de son temps à me poursuivre, à me torturer, à me critiquer ou à me condamner pour avoir abaissé le coût des voyages en avion dans toute l'Europe.

Si les ventes de boissons diminuent, nous obligeons les pilotes à ingérer un peu de turbulence. Cela augmente généralement les ventes.

À moins de commettre un meurtre, la publicité négative vend plus de sièges qu'une publicité positive.

Les classes sanglantes qui bavardent, ou ce que j'appelle les lecteurs de Guardian libéral, ils achètent tous des VUS pour conduire à Londres. Je souris à ces huards qui conduisent leurs VUS à Sainsbury's et achètent des fruits kiwi, transportés en Nouvelle-Zélande pour Christ Sakes. Ils sont l'équivalent des bombes nucléaires environnementales!

Retournez au travail de votre folie ou vous êtes licencié.

Quiconque pense que les vols Ryanair sont une sorte de bastion sacré où l'on peut contempler son nombril se trompe. Nous vous bombardons déjà d'autant d'annonces et de chariots en vol que possible.

Les gens disent que le client a toujours raison, mais vous savez quoi - ils ne le sont pas. Parfois, ils ont tort et ils doivent être le dire.

Pourquoi chaque avion a-t-il deux pilotes? Vraiment, vous n'avez besoin que d'un seul pilote. Sortons le deuxième pilote. Laissez l'ordinateur sanglant voler.

Ryanair apporte de nombreuses cultures différentes sur les plages d'Espagne, de Grèce et d'Italie, où ils couplent et copulez dans l'intérêt de la paix paneuropéenne.

Lorsque vous regardez le nombre de personnes stupides qui ont réussi en affaires, vous n'avez clairement pas besoin d'être très brillant. Les affaires consistent à augmenter vos ventes et vos coûts, le bit au milieu est un profit.

Je suis probablement juste un petit bollock odieux. On s'en fout?

C'est une grande incitation à travailler de longues heures. Je limite les vacances à deux semaines, puis je remets l'enfer au bureau. Si j'avais mon choix, je ne prendrais pas de vacances mais ma femme insiste sur le temps avec les enfants. C'est assez. Avant de me marier, je n'ai jamais pris de vacances.

Nous voulons ennuyer chaque fois que nous le pouvons. La meilleure chose que nous puissions faire avec les écologistes est de leur tirer dessus.

Beaucoup de mensonges et de désinformation ont été propagés par des écolos sur le dos d'un rapport d'un économiste idiot [Sir Nicholas Stern]. Les écologistes disent n'importe quoi lorsqu'ils prétendent que l'aviation est la source d'émissions de carbone qui connaît la croissance la plus rapide. Les centrales électriques au charbon et au mazout sont les plus gros contributeurs de carbone, mais je n'ai pas encore entendu de guerriers écologiques intrépides prôner l'énergie nucléaire alors qu'ils se promènent dans leurs SUV jusqu'à leur prochaine réunion de protestation.

L'industrie du transport aérien regorge de conneries, de menteurs et d'ivrognes. Nous excellons aux trois en Irlande.

Si le réchauffement climatique signifiait que les températures augmentaient de un ou deux degrés, la France deviendrait un désert, ce qui ne serait pas une mauvaise chose. Les Écossais cultivaient du vin et fabriquaient des buffles de mozzarella.

Les syndicats doivent être pris en charge. British Airways est massivement trop personnel et doit réduire ses coûts. . . . Le problème pour [le chef de la direction] Willie Walsh est que le conseil d'administration de BA n'a pas de colonne vertébrale, pas de balles et pas de vision.

Allons-nous dire désolé pour notre manque de service client? Absolument pas.

Nous devrions essayer d'éliminer des choses qui font chier inutilement les gens.

La plus grande réussite de Ryanair? Apporter des tarifs faibles en Europe et encore abaisser les em. Le plus grand échec? M'embaucher.

Je suis payé environ 20 fois plus que l'employé moyen de Ryanair et je pense que l'écart devrait être plus large. Je travaille probablement 50 fois plus dur. Je pense que je suis le patron des compagnies aériennes les plus sous-payées et les plus sous-estimées d'Europe.

Nous pensons que les passagers qui oublient d'imprimer leurs laissez-passer d'embarquement devraient payer 60 € pour être si stupide.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O%27Leary

Ses oeuvres

Ses derniers livres