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 rele

Darryn (Ngati Maniapoto) is a Palmerston North-based academic, writer and papa of three. He has written in te reo Maori short stories, board books, picture books, chapter books, and textbooks. Darryn holds a PhD written in te reo from Massey University and his doctoral dissertation on kipeha, figure

Craig, our tenth writer-in-residence, is the author of the novels Nailing Down the Saint and The Mannequin Makers, and the story collection A Man Melting, which won the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book. In addition to fiction, Craig has published poetry, essays and reviews, been

Claire is the founder of literary organisations Verb Wellington and LitCrawl Wellington. She is co-curator of the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts’ writers programme, and is the books editor at The Spinoff. She lives in Te Whanganui-a-Tara with her partner Andrew and son, Charlie.Her firs

Hazel, our eighth Writer-in-residence for the year, is the author of three books: Solo: Backcountry adventuring in Aotearoa New Zealand (MUP, 2022); Wild Westie (Penguin, 2014), a biography of Sir Bob Harvey; and Sell! (Penguin, 2013), a history of the advertising industry. She holds an MA in Media

Fijian writer Daren Kamali is a poet, writer and musician, creative arts youth worker and mentor. He cofounded the South Auckland Poets Collective in 2008. Daren serves as Heritage Pacific Advisor to Auckland Libraries and he currently works with Na Tolu – The Three; an artist collective formed by h

Vasanti writes, illustrates and designs books for ages, four to forever. Her picture books have sold around the world and won numerous awards. Vasanti is an Arts Foundation Laureate (2021) – awarded for her book illustrations. The Boring Book (2013) won book of the year at the NZ children’s book awa

Dani, our fifth writer-in-residence for 2024 is a wellington-based writer of poetry, essays, scripts and short fiction. They completed their Masters of Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2021, and their debut collection, Transposium, was published by Auckland Univer

Tehnuka (she/they) is a Tamil tauiwi volcanologist born and raised in Ōtautahi, and living in Kirikiriroa. She has over thirty short stories, poems, and essays published in magazines and anthologies. Her stories have been highly commended in the NZ Sunday Star Times short story contest and shortlist

Sonya is an award-winning writer, reporter and producer and is the founder and Executive Director of the children’s charity Kiwi Christmas Books. She was a broadcast journalist for more than 20 years, reporting and presenting for shows such as 20/20, Breakfast, One News and Sunday, before completing

Guy is a writer, composer, actor, producer and teacher. He trained at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School and international theatre school École Philippe Gaulier, Paris. His theatre writing credits include ‘Moira’s Wheel of Fortune’, ‘WANNABE’, and ‘Shortland Street – The Musical’; and for televi

We have welcomed Rose, a Wellington based writer, as our first writer-in-residence for 2024. Rose gained her Masters of Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2018 and was awarded the Modern Letters Prize for Creative Nonfiction. Her first essay collection  All Who Live

Our final writer-in-residence for the year, Ruby is a prose-writer, poet and artist. She tutors creative writing at the University of Auckland, and in high schools. She was the winner of the Wallace Foundation Short Fiction Award in 2017, and the inaugural winner of the Michael Gifkins Prize in 2018

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

Sherryl began her writing career with short stories and poetry, many of which were published in journals and magazines. Two collections of poems were published by Pariah Press in 1991 and 1999. Her first crime short stories were published in the Artemis Press anthologies, as well as ‘The Age Summer

Mary-anne is a musician and writer of children’s fiction and she lives in Havelock North. She found inspiration for her first two books, Snakes and Ladders and Coming Home to Roost, when her four sons were teenagers. Her next three novels, Sticking with Pigs, Spearo and The Tomo are adventure-based

Our 14th writer-in-residence, Atakohu (Ngāti Māhanga) is an Auckland-based journalist who has worked for national and international print media, including Mana magazine, the New Zealand Herald, the New Zealand Listener, the Sunday Star Times and, in England, the Guardian. She is now a part-time comm

Hana, (Ngaati Mahuta, Ngaati Hinerangi, Waikato/Tainui, Waitaha, Ngaati Waewae ki Kai Tahu Poutini) is a mother, artist, writer and independent researcher based in Kawerau. They recently published writing in The Material Kinship Reader: Material Beyond Extraction and Kinship Beyond the Nuclear Famil

Liz is a writer, editor and performer who has two poem collections, In bed with the feminists, part of which was winner of the Kathleen Grattan Prize for a sequence of poems 2020, and Alzheimer’s and a spoon, one of the NZ Listener’s Top 100 books of 2017. Liz’s poems can also be found in other plac

The recipient of our eight week residency, the 11th for the year – Helen is a poet and essayist from the Kapiti Coast, Wellington. Her debut collection of poetry Graft was published in May 2012 by Te Herenga Waka University Press (VUP/THWUP) to critical acclaim. Graft won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Best