Whiti Hereaka, from Wellington, held the 2012 Summer Residency at the Michael King Writers Centre, from January to mid-March.Whiti is a playwright, novelist and screenwriter who has won many awards even though she is at an early stage of her career. She has been admitted as a barrister and solicit

Tongariro, Ruapehu, Aoraki nga MaungaWhanganui, Rangatikei, Waitaki, nga AwaTaupo, Waihora nga RotoNgati Tuwharetoa, Te Ati Haunui A Paparangi, Ngati Hauiti ki RataRapuwai, Waitaha, Ngati Mamoe, Ngai Tahu nga IwiPaimarireTe Awhina Arahanga comes from Christchurch and has had extensive ex

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

The Michael King Writers’ Centre is delighted to welcome back novelist and graphic artist Sarah Laing for her second residency at the centre.This year she holds the six-month The University of Auckland Residency at the Michael King Writers’ Centre. In 2008, she held one of the short residencies fo

Don McGlashan is one of New Zealand’s most popular and celebrated songwriters and performers, whose music provides the soundtrack to our most significant national occasions as well as being heard around the world.He has won numerous awards for his albums, songs and for his film and television scor

Deborah Shepard has written a blog about her residency at the Michael King Writers’ Centre.Deborah Shepard held the Autumn Residency at the Michael King Writers’ Centre. She is working on two books, an exploration of memoir, Writing Your Heart Out: The Art and Craft of Memoir and a Pain Journal.

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

Victor holds the University of Auckland Residency which he started on the 19th of February and is our fourth residency for the year. He will be with us until late in June. He is working on both a novel and short stories.Victor is a writer of Samoan and Scottish descent. His first play, Sons, debut

Our second residency for the year is held by Rosetta and she is working on her second novel.Rosetta spent her formative writing years developing her strengths in the area of poetry, both writing and supporting poetry events in her hometown of Auckland.Rosetta has published two volumes of poetry:

Lawrence holds our third residency for the year and is working on a literary novel of communities in turmoil, set on a future Kāpiti Coast. It is an interrogation of Pākehā relationships with history in Aotearoa New Zealand.Lawrence is the author of the short-story collection I Got His Blood On Me

Helen Waaka (Ngāti Whaatua, Ngā Puhi) has joined us for the fifth residency of the year.Helen completed a Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing at Whitireia (Wellington) in 2011. The same year she won the Pikihuia award for best English-language short story with ‘Hineraumati’. Her stories have appe

Nadine Hura is of Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi and Pākehā whakapapa. She grew up in South Auckland but has spent much of her adult life living and working overseas. With a background in kaupapa Māori research and journalism, Nadine’s narrative essays explore themes of language, identity and belonging.Nadin

Allan is our first writer in residence for 2018 and is working on some contemporary short fiction.Allan recently completed his PhD in creative writing at Victoria University of Wellington. He writes mostly fiction, but also poems and non-fiction. His work has been published in journals and antholo

Whiti Hereaka (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa) will take up the Māori Writer’s Residency to work on the final draft of a new novel for adults Kurangaituku which retells the story of Hatupatu from the bird woman’s point of view.Whiti holds a Masters in Creative Writing (Script writing) from the Interna

Anthony Byrt is a regular writer for Metro, a contributing editor to Paperboy, and the New Zealand correspondent for Artforum International. In 2013 he was Critical Studies Fellow at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan, and in 2015 was New Zealand’s Reviewer of the Year at the Canon Media Awards. His

The six-month University of Auckland Residency at the MKWC was awarded to Frankie McMillan for a book of small narrative forms, mainly prose poetry and flash fiction. A postcard of a chimpanzees’ tea party, pasted by Anne Frank on her bedroom wall in Amsterdam has been the starting point for this ne

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

Hannah August is a writer, editor and researcher based in Wellington. She has written for publications such as the Times Literary Supplement and Metro. She has a PhD from King’s College London and has been a Commonwealth Scholar, a Fellow of the New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women, and was last

Elspeth has published eight novels, two collections of short stories and written numerous plays for radio (RNZ and BBC) and television. Her stage plays have been performed in England, the United States and New Zealand. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including the ONZM for services to

Briar Grace-Smith descends from Ngā Puhi and is an award-winning writer of plays, screenplays and short stories.Her first play Ngā Pou Wāhine won the 1995 Bruce Mason Playwriting Award and Purapurawhetū won Best New Zealand Play at the 1997 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. Her other plays include Whe