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Sonja Yelich (Croatian: Jelić; born 1965) is a New Zealand poet. She is the mother of singer Lorde.
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Sonja Yelich is a poet. Her early poetry featured in AUP Poets 2 (2002) and her first collection, Clung (Auckland University Press, 2004), won the 2005 NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry.
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Sonja Yelich is the mother of Lorde, and Lorde's three other siblings.
Yelich was born in 1965 into an immigrant family from Dalmatia in Auckland, New Zealand. She studied literature at the University of Auckland and became a trained teacher. Yelich's early poetry was included in AUP Poets 2 (2002). Her first collection of poems, Clung (Auckland University Press, 2004), won the 2005 Jessie Mackay Award for 'Best First Book of Poetry' at the New Zealand Book Awards. Her poems were chosen for the Best New Zealand Poems series in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2008. She was also included in New New Zealand Poets in Performance (AUP, July 2008), a book that was released with an accompanying CD.
Yelich’s second collection of poetry, Get Some (AUP, 2008) was a finalist in the New Zealand Post Book Awards. Get Some focuses on an American marine named "Edgar" who is serving in Iraq.
In 2010 Yelich received a Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship that allowed her to write full-time in residence at the Sargeson Centre. The Centre is adjacent to the University of Auckland and recipients receive an annual stipend of NZ$40,000.
In June 2014, Sonja became engaged to her longtime partner, Vic O'Connor, and they married on 6 May 2017. Later the same year, she joined Lorde at the 2017 BBMAs.
Auckland poet Sonja Yelich was included in AUP New Poets 2 (2002) and her first solo collection, Clung (Auckland University Press, 2004), won the New Zealand Society of Authors Jessie Mackay Award for the Best First Book of Poetry at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2005.
Sonja Yelich lives in Bayswater/Devonport, Auckland. She has published her work in literary journals for many years and has studied creative writing under Witi Ihimaera. AUP New Poets 2 (AUP, 2002) is her first book.
Sonja Yelich was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1965. She was published in AUP New Poets 2 in 2002. Her first solo collection of poetry, Clung, was published by Auckland University Press in 2004. She lives in Bayswater, Auckland, with her partner Vic and their 4 children.
