Media Releases
29 January 2008 – 2008 Writer-in-Residence Appointed
Prominent New Zealand writer Chris Price will be the writer-in-residence at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in Auckland for the first half of 2008.The residency is a joint venture between The University of Auckland, Creative New Zealand and the Michael King Writers’ Centre.
During the residency, Chris Price plans to complete a new collection of poems, The Blind Singer, and lay the groundwork for another major project — a full-length work of creative non-fiction that will blend biography, travel, memoir, history and essay. Death’s Jest-Book will re-imagine the life of the eccentric English poet, anatomist and suicide Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803-1849) for a modern audience.
Chris Price’s first collection of poetry Husk (Auckland University Press, 2002) hit the bestseller list (unusually for a book of poems), before receiving the 2002 Best First Book of Poetry Prize at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.
Her second book, Brief Lives (AUP, 2006) is a genre-crossing work that includes elements of poetry, essay, memoir and fiction. It was shortlisted for the 2007 Montana New Zealand Book Awards in the biography category. The judges remarked: ‘This beautifully crafted book was placed among the finalists because its short meditations on various lives, real and fictional, offer a lively and inventive reworking of the genre of biography. Few books so amenable to being dipped into are also capable of provoking so much thought and introspection.” Brief Lives was also chosen as one of Best Books of 2006 by the NZ Listener, Dominion Post, National Radio and LeafSalon.
Chris Price was also one of ten writers who participated in the science-art collaboration that produced Are Angels OK? The parallel universes of New Zealand artists and scientists (Victoria University Press, 2006), edited by Paul Callaghan and Bill Manhire. An excerpt from her contribution subsequently appeared in Best New Zealand Poems 06 - www.victoria.ac.nz/bestnzpoems.
Price was already well known for her contributions to literary life in New Zealand before publishing her own work. She has worked as a book editor, and edited the national literary journal Landfall for most of the 1990s. From 1992 to 2004 she was coordinator of Writers and Readers Week for the New Zealand International Arts Festival. Since 2004 she has taught the poetry workshop at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University as well as managing its public events programmes and editing the online journal Turbine. She has an MA (Hons) in Languages and Literature from The University of Auckland, and an MA in Creative Writing from Victoria University.
Chris Price says, ‘I’m especially thrilled to have the chance to begin excavating Mr. Beddoes at last – it’s a project I’ve been nursing in my imagination for some time, and six clear months will give me a terrific head start. Three-way support from the University, Creative New Zealand and the Michael King Writers’ Centre makes me feel that this adventure in biography has the best possible trio of guardian angels.’
The residency allows her to live at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in Devonport and work in the writer’s studio for six months in the first half of 2008. She also has an office in the English Department at The University of Auckland. She receives a $30,000 stipend, funded by The University of Auckland and Creative New Zealand.
The Michael King Writers’ Centre is the first full writers’ facility and literary centre in New Zealand. Based in the historic Signalman’s House on Mt Victoria in Devonport, it was established in partnership with the North Shore City Council after Michael King’s death in 2004 to honour his life and work. Following a major renovation, the centre was officially opened in May 2007. Facilities include accommodation for two writers, a writer’s studio, an administration base and meeting rooms.
It is the first time that The University of Auckland, Creative New Zealand and the Michael King Writers’ Centre have teamed up to offer the residency. The inaugural grant aims to foster New Zealand writing by providing a full-time opportunity to work in an academic environment together with residence and studio space at the writers' centre in Devonport.
For further information, please call Karren Beanland:
Ph/fax: 09 445 8451
Mob: 021 237 9735
Email: administrator@writerscentre.org.nz
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2009
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10 December 2009 – Calling for applications for six-month residency in 2010
28 October 2009 – Top writers selected for residencies
29 September 2009 – Heritage Week events
18 August 2009 – Applications are now open for two short residencies in early 2010
18 August 2009 – Call for applications for two short residencies in 2010
18 August 2009 – Short residencies 2010 - How to Apply
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03 June 2009 – Jam Radio features Michael King Writers' Centre authors
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06 March 2009 – Hill Standing Above - history booklet launched
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