Makereta holds the last residency for 2019. She is I-Taukei-born Fijian, from the Noco District of Rewa in Viti Levu. She was adopted by kaivulagi New Zealanders at the age of two and was raised in Devonport, Auckland. She attended Takapuna Grammar School and The University of Auckland.Makereta ha

Mariana is a writer, artist, and forager. Born in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa, she has ancestral roots in Sāmoa, Scotland, England, Ireland, and France.She is wild about the more-than-human world; has studied organic horticulture; and holds an MA in Creative Writing.Whilst on her residency Mariana

Fiona has joined us for her four week residency, the 19th for the year. She is a writer and director, playwright, actor and Arts Laureate, awarded for her original body of work for television, theatre and film. Trained at the NZ Drama School, Fiona established a career as an actor before moving into

Jo is an acclaimed New Zealand author whose output has been globally recognised. Her book The Search for Anne Perry was numbered in the top 10 non-fiction books on the New York Times bestseller list in 2015. It was a finalist in the prestigious New Zealand Book Awards in August 2013; it was the subj

Murray takes up our 17th residency to work on an essay that takes a small section of Auckland and reads its monuments for their historical, cultural, social and psychological significance and subtext. He has worked as a writer, actor and director with The Living Theatre Troupe, Half Moon Theatre (Lo

A writer and theatre-maker Jo is the founder and artistic director of Barbarian Productions (theatre company). Recent theatre works include Sing It To My Face, Political Cuts and Grand Opening.Jo has received the Robert Burns Fellowship, an Arts Foundation New Generation Award and the Bruce Mason

Kirsten is our 15th writer-in-residence for the year and is the author of two books of fiction, Tess (2017) and The Invisible Rider (2012). In 2018 Tess was long listed for the Ockham NZ Book Awards and shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Awards. Kirsten is from Wellington, where she lives with her fami

Our 14th residency for the year is held by Rijula who lives and works in Wellington.  Rijula holds a PhD in Creative Writing and was the recipient of the 2016 Dastaan Award for her short story Notes From A Passing. Whilst on her residency Rijula will focus on a book-length work of fiction that te

Jade is an architectural design, writer, and housing advocate. Of Māori and Dutch descent, her tribal affiliations are Ngāpuhi (Ngāti Hau me Te Parawhau), Te Whakatōhea and Te Arawa. Her literary interests include decolonisation, Māori-futurism, and contemporary theology. She has previously writt

Author of six novels and five collections of poetry, Emma works as an editor and occasional creative writing tutor. She was raised in New Zealand, lived for several years in California as a child, and as an adult lived in England for just under a decade. There she gained her MA and PhD from Universi

Phillipa is our eleventh resident for the year – she lives in Wellington and writes fiction, non-fiction and plays for children and young adults. Her interest in history has produced titles such as Anzac Day, Best Mates (illustrated by Bob Kerr), Armistice Day, Lighthouse Family and The New Zealand

Gigi’s first book, The Intentions Book was shortlisted for the 2013 New Zealand Post Book Awards and long-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Award. Her second book, Feverish was published in 2018, and she has published work in various literary journals. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and two Masters deg

Our ninth resident for the year – Dominic is an author, playwright and poet based in Tamaki Makaurau. His debut novel, Iceland was a New Zealand bestseller and was long-listed for the 2018 Ockham Book Award. His autobiographical play Your Heart Looks Like a Vagina, a dark comedy about living with au

Meagan is an Auckland based writer of European and Māori descent born and raised in Perth, Western Australia. She moved permanently to New Zealand in 2005, where she has lived with her partner and two children since. Meagan has been writing adult fiction for four years, and her work has been publish

We have welcomed Gary as our seventh resident for the year, he is a playwright, director and writing teacher whose work is produced locally and internationally. His scripts have been published by Playmarket in NZ, and by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama in London. In November 2013 Gary received the Playmark

Diane is a novelist, memoirist, and poet who runs an online and face to face creative writing school, Creative Writing Dunedin.During her residency – our sixth for the year, Diane is working on a poetry biography, All the Women [working title] based on her maternal ancestors. She says ‘Although th

Ivy has been awarded a late summer residency, our fifth for the year and is working on a multi-volume collection, Diaspora.Ivy says ‘Diaspora is my project of reclamation, a way to honour my culture, through poetry. Through this project, I want to braid old and new threads into a fresh understandi

Colleen is of Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi and Irish descent. After returning to New Zealand in 2016 after fifteen years in Tokyo and one in New York City, she decided to pursure her childhood dream of being an author. She began work on a collection of linked short stories.“These haunting tales from the mar

Steve is working on his third full-length collection of poetry that explores the climate of reproach and apology that pervades our public discourse today and says “the Michael King Writers Centre commands an unrivalled view of the city and the surrounding harbour, is a few minutes’ walk from the vib

Yvette, our second resident for the year is a LGBTQIA writer who was born in Australia and is now a New Zealand resident living in Northland.Her debut novel Letters to the End of Love (University of Queensland Press, 2013 won a 2014 Western Australian Premier’s Book Award and was shortlisted for a