Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellow takes up residence

Second Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellow takes up residence

This year’s second Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellow, Craig Marriner, has taken up his tenure and is now resident at the Sargeson flat in central Auckland.

Back from the UK, Craig will use his time at the flat to put the finishing touches to his second novel, centred around the Kiwi/Aussie scene in London, as well as working on his third novel and the upcoming film of his award-winning first novel, stonedogs.

“Being awarded the Fellowship gives me the financial leeway and headspace to concentrate on my writing – it’s a fantastic opportunity,” Craig says.

This year’s other Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellow, Karyn Hay, finished her tenure earlier in July and is currently on location in East Timor filming for the next series of Intrepid Journeys.

The Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship is a national literary fellowship offered annually in partnership with The Frank Sargeson Trust. It provides the opportunity each year for an outstanding New Zealand writer(s) to write full time ‘in residence’ with a monthly stipend.

Past Buddle Findlay Sargeson fellows (from 1997 onwards) include Karyn Hay (2004), Toa Fraser, Debra Daley, Denis Baker, Riemke Ensing, Vivienne Plumb, Chad Taylor, Shonagh Koea, Diane Brown, Catherine Chidgey, Sarah Quigley, Tina Shaw, Kapka Kassabova, Sue Reidy, James Brown and Charlotte Grimshaw. Past Sargeson Trust fellows include Janet Frame, Alan Duff, Kevin Ireland, Michael King, Marilyn Duckworth.

More detailed information on Craig Marriner follows.
Craig Marriner Craig Marriner, 30, was born and raised in Rotorua. He has been a goldminer in Australia, a security guard at English soccer stadiums and an MC at an Amsterdam comedy club. His first novel, stonedogs (Vintage, Random House, New Zealand, 2001) achieved considerable critical success, winning the Deutz Medal in 2002. It explores the urban underbelly of New Zealand and is set against a chilling backdrop of gangs, drugs and murder and will be launched in Australia later in the year.

Reviews of stonedogs: “Told in a brutal and scathing prose which keeps women in their place and multinational corporations cringing, stonedogs is not for the easily offended. Marriner offers a chilling look at the seedy underbelly of New Zealand society, of blokes treading a fine line between idealism and anarchy, friendship and betrayal, misbehaviour and murder.”
Helen Spiers, Dunedin Star, 7 February 2002

“Full of real Kiwi characters that are easy to relate to, and set in the pubs, bars, cars and forests, this is real New Zealand fiction. The tight narrative and building tension grabs us and throws us into the backseat as we career around corners on the edge of the seat, never knowing where the next twist might lead us.”
Warren Smart, Daily News, 17 November 2001

“Marriner’s Vegas is brilliantly real as is Auckland (the Smoke) and it’s superb to read a book littered with Lion Red cans, clapped out Holdens and rich boys from the North Shore. The language is spot on, the cadences and utterances utterly familiar to anyone who has been in a suburban pub, or to a rugby match, or indeed any small town in New Zealand…a tender and intelligently written novel.”
Evening Post 13, November 2001

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