Self portrait in the Centre for Artist's Residencies, Matadero Madrid, 2020.

Charles Olsen


Born in Aotearoa New Zealand, he moved to the UK in 1981 and to Spain in 2003. A multidiscipline artist moving between painting, writing, photography and audiovisual work. His latest poetry collection, result of the III Antonio Machado Poetry Residency of Segovia and Soria he received in 2018, is La rebeldía del sol ('Rebellious Sun', Olifante Ediciones, 2022). He set up the Spanish poetry project Palabras Prestadas in 2011, and since 2016 he has run the competition Given Words for Aotearoa New Zealand's National Poetry Day.

Read more in Read NZ Te Pou Muramura, and view curriculum vitae in Pensamientos lentos.