Media release

Active established writers are invited to apply for the sought after University of Auckland

Residency at the Michael King Writers’ Centre.

Co-hosted by the Department of English in the Faculty of Arts, the Residency enables a writer to spend six months from July to December 2013 at the Michael King Writers’ Centre, an historic villa in Devonport. The writer also receives an office in the English Department and is supported by a $30,000 stipend.

The Residency is for established authors to devote themselves to a major project.  Writers must be working on a specific project within a range of genres, including fiction, poetry, drama and non-fiction. (Scripts for film, television or radio are not eligible.) Applicants should have a substantial publishing record of proven merit.

Current resident, novelist Eleanor Catton urges fellow New Zealand writers to apply.

"Virginia Woolf insisted that a writer needs only two things to be able to write: money, and a room of her own. The recipient of the University of Auckland Michael King Writers’ Residency receives both: an office in beautiful Devonport and a generous stipend on which to live. As the 2012 resident I have done great work here, working much longer hours than I could ordinarily manage at home. The Michael King Writers' Centre, the first institution of its kind in New Zealand, is a lovely and peaceful place to live. This is a wonderful residency," says Eleanor Catton.

The University of Auckland Residency is also an opportunity for an author to benefit from an academic environment, and to contribute to teaching and creative mentoring in the Department of English. It coincides with the University’s second semester.

The writer selected for the Residency will receive free accommodation at the Michael King Writers’ Centre, use of the writer’s studio and the stipend of $30,000. The Residency is a partnership between the Centre, The University of Auckland and Creative New Zealand.

Eleanor Catton is author of the award-winning novel The Rehearsal (2008). She is working on a series of novels for young adults, which will read as “fantastical thrillers”.

Application forms and further information are available on the Centre’s website www.writerscentre.org.nz. Applications close on Friday October 12, 2012, and the selections are expected to be made in November.

Media contact: