Fifi is our ninth resident for the year and the first to be affected by Aotearoa’s Level 4 Alert status for Covid-19. This means Fifi will be ‘working from home’ for her residency. Whilst we are sorry not to be able to welcome her to the house we are very happy that she will still receive her stipen

Penny joins us for our eighth residency – she is an Art Historian having held roles in public art galleries in New Zealand.The author of Edward Bullmore: A Surrealist Odyssey (2008) and The Brown Years: Nigel Brown (2009),  she has contributed to The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography and several

Megan is co-editor of The Spinoff art section. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, where she graduated with distinction.A former video artist who also writes widely on visual art, her first book, Tinderbox, was published by Galley Beggar Press in 2017.Megan

We have welcomed Hera to the centre as our sixth resident for the year. She has published two books, ‘Hera Lindsay Bird’ with Victoria University Press and ‘Pamper Me to Hell & Back,’ with The Poetry Business. She was a 2018 Arts Foundation New Generation award recipient, and was the 2017 winner of

Jeff is our fifth resident for the year and is the author of five books. His interest in Māori and Polynesian cultures has produced the titles Ngā Waka o Neherā: the first voyaging canoes, The Discovery of Aotearoa, Maori Weapons in Pre-European New Zealand, Waka Taua: Māori war canoe and the biogra

David edited Landfall  and Landfall Review Online between 2010 and 2018. He is a recent recipient of a Janet Frame Literary Trust Award, an Ockham New Zealand Book Award for Poetry, and the Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry. His most recent poetry publication, Edgeland and other poems, was published

Josh (JP Pomare), (Ngā Puhi), grew up the youngest child of four, on a farm outside of Rotorua. After high school, he studied politics, media and creative writing briefly at university before heading abroad.He continued to write and hone his craft having a number of essays, reviews and short stor

Tru, (Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Te Tarawa, Ngāti Kahu o Torongāre)  is a choreographer, curator, and poet working across performance and writing disciplines. She is a graduate of the New Zealand School of Dance, and former company member of Mau Dance.Tru’s international career has taken her to festiva

We have welcomed Rose as our first writer in residence for the New Year.  Rose says her aim as a writer ‘is to produce books that readers can’t put down’. Her first novel, a contemporary thriller about a jealous identical twin, is set in Australia, Thailand and the Seychelles. Entitled The Girl in t

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