Applications for Michael King Writers’ Centre residencies

Applications open for Michael King Writers’ Centre residencies in 2015

The Michael King Writers’ Centre is inviting applications from New Zealand writers for four supported residencies in 2015, with stipends ranging from $8,000 to $30,000.

The residencies are at the Michael King Writers’ Centre which is based in the Signalman’s House, a heritage villa on Takarunga Mt Victoria in Devonport.

The residency programme aims to support New Zealand writers and promote the development of high-quality New Zealand writing. Projects can be in a wide range of genres, including non-fiction, fiction, drama and poetry. Previous resident writers include Man Booker prize-winner Eleanor Catton, who wrote the final draft of her novel The Luminaries at the centre.

Writers who are selected for the 2015 residencies receive free accommodation at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in Devonport, use of the writer’s studio and a stipend:

• Summer Residency, eight weeks from January 7, 2015 ($8,000)
• Autumn Residency, eight weeks from March 10 ($8,000)
• Maori Writer’s Residency, eight weeks from May 12 ($8,000)
• The University of Auckland Residency, six months from mid-July 2015 ($30,000 stipend/salary)
The eight-week residencies are open to emerging or established writers. The six-month residency, offered in partnership with The University of Auckland, is for an established author who may benefit from the academic environment. Writers must be working on a specific project in fiction, poetry, drama, creative non-fiction or non-fiction. Writers who live in Auckland are welcome to apply. The residencies are offered with the assistance of Creative New Zealand.

Application forms and further information are available on the centre’s web site
www.writerscentre.org.nz or from the centre. Applications close on Friday October 10, 2014, and the selections are expected to be announced in November.

Thirty New Zealand writers have held residencies at the centre since 2005. The current writer in residence is poet and novelist Anne Kennedy. Writers who do not qualify for the supported residency programme are able to apply to be a visiting writer on a paying basis.

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