Applications Open for Michael King Writers Centre 2027 Residencies
MEDIA RELEASE
6 August 2026
Applications open for Michael King Writers Centre 2027 residencies
17 residencies available in 2027 for writers across Aotearoa New Zealand
The Michael King Writers Centre has opened applications for its 2027 Writers in Residence Programme, a national residency programme supporting writers from across Aotearoa New Zealand to develop major writing projects.
The 2027 programme offers 17 residencies for emerging and established writers at the historic Signalman's House on Takarunga Mt Victoria in Devonport, Auckland. Residencies range from two to three weeks and provide accommodation, a dedicated writing studio, a stipend, and uninterrupted time to focus on a writing project. Up to four residencies will be awarded specifically for Māori or Pasifika writers.
Applications open on Thursday 6 August and close on Monday 31 August. The application form and more details can be found on the MKWC website: https://www.writerscentre.org.nz/how-to-apply
The residency programme supports New Zealand writers working across a wide range of genres, including fiction, non-fiction, children's and young adult literature, drama and poetry.
During her residency at the Michael King Writers Centre in 2021, Ingrid Horrocks spent time developing All her Lives: Nine Stories, which was awarded the Jann Medlicott Acorn prize for fiction at the 2026 Ockham New Zealand book awards. Looking back on that experience, she says, “the Michael King residency was a game-changer for me. With young children and a job back in 2021, two weeks was perfect. I had just begun writing short stories. The residency helped me believe it could be the book that eventually became All her Lives: Nine Stories. I ended up writing a Devonport story too, set in the 1980s, dreamed up from mornings spent in the Devonport library and wandering the hills. I loved the location and general set-up. The best residency. I also got the bonus as an alumnus of going to Varuna in the Blue Mountains in 2025. Very, very grateful. These residencies are so important to us as writers”.
About the Michael King Writers Centre residency programme
The MKWC residency programme aims to support New Zealand writers and promote the development of New Zealand writing. Projects can be in a wide range of genres including non-fiction, fiction, children and young adult, drama and poetry.
Who can apply?
We support diversity and all writers from throughout Aotearoa New Zealand who are a New Zealand citizen or have New Zealand permanent residency are encouraged to apply. Up to four residencies will be awarded specifically for Māori or Pasifika writers.
ENDS
For information or interviews, please contact:
Melanee Winder
Chair, Michael King Writers Centre
Email: melanee.winder@gmail.com
Residency enquiries
Tania Stewart
Administrator, Michael King Writers Centre
Email: administrator@writerscentre.org.nz
Mobile: 021 106 3837
Website: https://www.writerscentre.org.nz/
About the Michael King Writers Centre
The Michael King Writers Centre (MKWC) was established in 2005 to realise writer and historian Michael King's vision of a residential retreat where New Zealand writers could have the time, space and financial support to work on major writing projects. The Centre is based at the historic Signalman's House on Takarunga Mt Victoria in Devonport, Auckland.
Since opening, more than 200 New Zealand writers have held residencies at the Centre. Alumni include award-winning writers Ingrid Horrocks, Whiti Hereaka (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa), NZ Poet Laureate Chris Tse and Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton.
The impact of the residency programme continues to be reflected in New Zealand's literary achievements. At the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, eight Michael King Writers Centre alumni were long-listed*. Ingrid Horrocks went on to win the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction for All Her Lives; a project developed during her residency at the Centre.
The Michael King Writers Centre residency programme supports the development of New Zealand writing across a wide range of genres, helping writers create work that contributes to Aotearoa New Zealand's cultural and literary life.
//
*Eight of the 44 books long-listed in this year’s Ockham NZ Book Awards were authored by MKWC alumni including Dominic Hoey, Ingrid Horrocks, Duncan Sarkies, Tracy Farr, Erik Kennedy, Serie Barford, Anna Jackson and Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā). The short list included: Ingrid Horrocks, Erik Kennedy, Anna Jackson and Tina Makereti. Ingrid went on to win the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction for her MKWC residency project, All Her Lives and Tina was awarded the General Non-Fiction Award for her book This Compulsion in Us.