Leading writers slated for Dunedin residencies

Media Release

Leading writers slated for Dunedin residencies

Several leading writers have been selected for residencies at the Robert Lord Writers Cottage in Titan Street in Dunedin for 2007/08.

Nonnita Rees, Chair of the Writers Cottage Trust, has announced the next four writers to take up residencies.

They are Gerry Evans to work on the biography of Noel Hilliard; Margaret Scott to prepare her edition of the Journals of Charles Brasch; Renee to write a new play set in Otago and Vincent O’Sullivan to continue work on his biography of Ralph Hotere.

“We are very happy with the success of the writers’ cottage. It continues to be in high demand by emerging and established writers, who are keen to come to live and write in Dunedin for a period of time. Sometimes we offer an extended period but this year the majority wanted shorter spells to combine time to write with access to Dunedin’s Hocken Library collections and other local resources” Ms Rees said.

Stuart Strachan of the Hocken Library added “We are delighted that the Robert Lord Cottage will be enabling these four writers from other centres to work at the Hocken collections. It is a tribute to the richness of the resources including private papers and manuscripts available in Dunedin for research and we look forward to seeing them put to good use.”

Playwright Robert Lord bequeathed his three room 1909 cottage for the use of writers who wish to come to Dunedin to undertake writing projects.

The Trust is also currently operating a partnership with the University Of Otago College Of Education’s Children’s Writer in Residence. Award winning writer Vince Ford is the 2007 writer. A six months residency will be awarded at the University College of Education from April to September 2008 with free accommodation in the Robert Lord Cottage. Advertising for the residency will commence in August.

ENDS

Further information on 2007/08 writers in residence

Gerry Evans (October 2007)
Author of several books including “Where Giants Dwell”, journalist and columnist. Retired mariner and trade unionist. He is writing a biography of Noel Hilliard and will be researching the Hilliard files at the Hocken Library. He is also looking forward to meeting local writers and old friends of Noel Hilliard that still live in the Dunedin area.

Margaret Scott (November 2007)
Edited the Katherine Mansfield Notebooks and with Vincent O’Sullivan co-edited the Letters of Katherine Mansfield. She says the residency “will enable me to continue my work on transcribing the daily diaries of Charles Brasch in the Hocken Library. The diaries are a startlingly vivid and invaluable spotlight on the literary and artistic history of New Zealand in the middle third of the twentieth century as well as on the life and personality of a quite extraordinary man.”

Renee (December/January 2008)
Playwright and novelist is to begin work on a new play she intends to set in Otago. She says “The Robert Lord Cottage seems to me to be the perfect place for a playwright to begin a new play. I’m sure Robert’s great talent and wit are part of the atmosphere of the cottage and I am honoured to join him and all those writers who have experienced that mix of inspiration and hospitality that makes Dunedin such a great place in which to work.”

Vincent O’Sullivan (March/April and October/November 2008)
Poet, playwright, novelist and biographer. He will be continuing work on his biography of artist Ralph Hotere. The time at the cottage will allow him time to work on the considerable material held by the Hocken as well as on his extensive files. He will also interview a wide range of Hotere’s friends and acquaintances as well as spend time with the artist in Port Chalmers.

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