Vivienne Plumb awarded Iowa residency

17 May, 2004

Vivienne Plumb awarded Iowa residency

Poet, novelist and playwright Vivienne Plumb has been selected to represent New Zealand at the 2004 International Writing Program, a three-month writers' residency at the University of Iowa in the United States.

The Wellington writer will travel to the United States in late August to take part in the International Writing Program, a partnership between the University of Iowa and Creative New Zealand through the Arts Board. Creative New Zealand contributes $10,000 towards the residency.

The International Writing Program includes writers from more than 20 countries, who will all have the opportunity to give public readings and appear in panel discussions.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to immerse myself in writing and writers for three months," Plumb says. "I'm looking forward to meeting writers from other parts of the world and taking part in all the activities. It sounds like there's a lot of interesting things happening all of the time."

Plumb has published two collections of poetry, a novella and a novel, Secret City, which was published last year. Her play, Love Knots, has been translated into Italian and excerpts will be performed in a theatre in Rome next year. A new collection of poetry will be published later this year.

"As well as all the networking opportunities, I'll be making the most of the time to write," Plumb says. "I'll be focussing on my second novel but will also be finalising my poetry collection and will probably write some new poetry as well."

In the final two weeks of the residency, she will take part in a period of intensive writing at the KHN Centre for the Arts in Nebraska.

Other New Zealand writers who have taken part in the International Writing Program in Iowa include writer and broadcaster Gordon McLauchlan, children's writer Vince Ford, novelist and historian Stevan Eldred-Grigg, children's writers William Taylor and Sheryl Jordan, and poet Bernadette Hall.

ENDS

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