Jillian SullivanJillian Sullivan

Jillian Sullivan lives in a strawbale home in Central Otago. She teaches writing, and writes creative non-fiction, novels, memoir, short stories and poetry, and has published 12 books. Her latest book is Map for the Heart: Ida Valley essays, a mix of memoir and environmentalism (Otago University Press).

A prayer for the new year

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At this ecological crossroads, Central Otago writer Jillian Sullivan seeks a kinder path forward. The Ida Burn is running shallow, the interstitial spaces between pebbles and stones dense with silt, and in the glides a yellow sheen of flowering broom. The wind that whooshed in the trees all morning has quietened to the sound of … Read more

The distance between us

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Jillian Sullivan lives in a strawbale house in Central Otago’s Ida Valley. This essay, Between Lands, is from Map for the Heart, a new collection blending memoir and environmentalism. There’s a moment on the ferry crossing, mid-journey, when a bird hovering over the charcoal water turns and flies towards us, wings outspread. This bird, mollymawk, … Read more