Our ninth resident for the year – Dominic is an author, playwright and poet based in Tamaki Makaurau. His debut novel, Iceland was a New Zealand bestseller and was long-listed for the 2018 Ockham Book Award. His autobiographical play Your Heart Looks Like a Vagina, a dark comedy about living with autoimmune disease had three sell out runs and was nominated for best new playwright at the 2018 Wellington Theatre Awards.
Dominic has released two poetry books, Party Tricks and Boring Secrets (2014), a collaboration with artist Joshua Solomon, and Feel Like Shit Looking Great (2016).
As a screenwriter he’s scripted four short films which were accepted into a number of festivals including Palm Springs, The Orlando Film Festival, The New Zealand Film Festival and Show Me Shorts.
Since 2014, Dominic has been an arts mentor working with both Nga Rangatahi Toa and Atawhai under The Kindness Institute. Dominic works with marginalised youth excluded from the education system, using art, yoga and meditation to help them with their mental health and to transition back into higher education or employment.
In a former life, Dominic was an MC battle and slam-poetry champion. He’s performed his spoken-word poetry in Australia, Europe, England, Japan, and America.
Dominic is currently working on his second novel, and a new collection of poetry.