Writers in Residence

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  • The Centre's selection process is overseen by an independent panel, guided by its commitment to honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi and celebrating diverse voices.

    "Reading and assessing this year's applications was an enormous privilege for the selection panel," says Melanee Winder, selection panellist and Chair of the MKWC Trust. "We were energised and impressed by the quality of writing across a wide variety of projects."

    Emma Neale, a 2025 recipient, reflects: "I am enormously grateful for the way my time at the centre encouraged and catalysed my new project. The centre should be treasured by all Aotearoa writers and lovers of literature."

  • The Michael King Writers Centre is proud to support 18 New Zealand writers through its 2026 residency programme, hosted at the historic Signalman's House in Devonport, Auckland. Selected from over 150 applicants across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama and writing for children, this year's recipients are:

    Anne Kayes, Cassie Hart, Cello Forrester, Chris Tse, Claire Baylis, Connie Buchanan, Emma Hislop, Gina Butson, Jordan Hamel, Josie Shapiro, Kirsten McDougall, Kirsty Powell, Liv Sisson, Rebecca Hawkes, Sarah Ell, Sue Wootton, Trina Elkington-Ball, and Vincent O'Malley.

    For eligibility, stipend and accommodation details, see About our Residency Programme.

  • For a list of our alumni from 2005 to 2026, by first name see here.

    Since the Centre opened in 2005, over 200 New Zealand writers have held supported residencies, with international residencies added from 2013 in association with the NZ China Friendship Society and Varuna House, NSW.

    Alumni include Eleanor Catton (final draft of The Luminaries, 2012), Whiti Hereaka (Kurangaituku, 2017) and biographer Rachel Barrowman, alongside Poet Laureates Vincent O'Sullivan, David Eggleton and Ian Wedde, and writers Gina Cole, Roger Horrocks, Ashleigh Young, Josh Pomare, Jane Arthur and Pip Adam.

Use the filter to select by year.

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Residency Alumni Kirstie Jones Residency Alumni Kirstie Jones

Martin Edmond: 2010 Autumn Writers Residency

Martin Edmond held an eight-week residency from mid-March to May, also offered with the support of Creative New Zealand. Edmond was born in Ohakune and grew up in small North Island towns before studying in Auckland and Wellington. He spent five years touring internationally with the avant garde the

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Residency Alumni Kirstie Jones Residency Alumni Kirstie Jones

Nelson Wattie: 2011 Autumn Writers Residency

Nelson Wattie was awarded the Autumn Residency (mid-March to mid-May) to work on a literary biography of Kapiti poet, novelist and playwright Alistair Te Ariki Campbell. Dr Wattie is an author, translator, academic and opera singer from Wellington, who taught in German universities for many years an

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Residency Alumni Kirstie Jones Residency Alumni Kirstie Jones

Chris Else: 2012 Autumn Writers Residency

Chris Else has had more than eight books published: six novels, and two collections of short fiction. His work appears in many anthologies and magazines, and he has written for stage and television. His most recent novel is Gith, published by Random House in 2008. In a Herald on Sundayreview Nicky P

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Residency Alumni Kirstie Jones Residency Alumni Kirstie Jones

Peter Wells: 2014 Autumn Writers Residency

Peter Wells is a distinguished writer and film-maker.As a writer, he won the 1992 NZ Book Award for Fiction for his first book of short stories Dangerous Desires, published by Viking Penguin in New York and Secker and Warburg in London. The book also won, among other awards, the PEN (NZ) Best Firs

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