Hinekura is a Māori woman, educator, weaver, researcher and mother who descends from the Far North iwi of Te Rarawa and Nga Puhi in Aotearoa New Zealand. She has over 27 years experience in Māori education, beginning her career with 12 years as a te reo Māori secondary school teacher before moving i

Sam is an artist and writer from Te Whanganui-a-Tara, now at home in Māwhera.  He has published two collections of poetry with Te Herenga Waka Press, People from the Pit Stand Up and Party Legend and will soon be unveiling a third.  During his MKWC residency he will be working on a book about his im

Joy, our 13th resident for the year, lives in Pōneke. Her debut collection of short fiction Dream Girl was published by Te Herenga Waka University Press in 2023. She completed her MA in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2020. Her writing can be found in journals an

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