Writers in Residence
-
example in here
-
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.
Kerrin Sharpe: 2025 Early Summer Residency
Kerrin is our final writer-in-residence for the year. She has published five collections of poetry (all with Te Herenga Waka University Press, Wellington, NZ) with the latest Hoof, published October 2023. She has also had poems published in a wide range of journals both in NZ and overseas including
Joan Fleming: 2023 Early Summer Residency
Joan’s latest book is Song of Less (Cordite Books, 2022), a verse novel exploring ritual, taboo, and the limits of individualism in the ruins of ecological collapse. She is the author of the poetry collections The Same as Yes and Failed Love Poems (Te Herenga Waka Press), and the pamphlets Two Dream
Vana Manasiadis: 2022 Early Summer Residency
Vana is a Greek-New Zealand poet who has been moving between Aotearoa and Kirihi Greece, and has now settled in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Her most recent book The Grief Almanac: A Sequel (Seraph 2019), followed Ithaca Island Bay Leaves: A Mythistorima (Seraph 2009) in experimenting with hybridity and c
Rachael King: 2020 Early Summer Residency
We welcomed Rachael not only as our final writer-in-residence for 2020 but also, by wonderful coincidence as the 100th writer to take up a residency at MKWC.Rachael is an award-winning author with three novels under her belt: The Sound of Butterflies, which was published internationally and trans
Fiona Samuel: 2019 Early Summer Residency
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
Anna Jackson: 2017 Early Summer Residency
Anna has written and edited a number of academic books on topics ranging from Gothic children’s fiction to verse biography in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and has published six collections of poetry with Auckland University Press.Anna will spend her eight-week residency working on her latest