Barbara Sumner: 2024 Winter Residency

While at the Michael King writers centre Barbara  will be working on the final draft of The Mystifications, a slightly true novel about a mystery cult, a daughter who hides her power, an omniscient dog, and an astral-travelling widow with problems of her own. Her new novel, The Gallows Bird was released in May 2024.

Barbara is completing her PhD at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University, Te Herenga Waka. Her thesis, The Illegitimate Other investigates the structures, functions, and purpose of human adoption in Aotearoa. She is the author of Tree of Strangers, and has previously written and produced a trifecta of award-winning documentaries and is a former magazine features writer. Barbara lives in Napier with her husband and a geriatric ginger cat.