Kiwi author begins work at Japan residency

MEDIA RELEASE

Monday, 4 August 2008

Kiwi author begins work at Japan residency

New Zealand writer Carl Shuker has this week begun work at a prestigious two month artists’ residency in Japan.

Carl Shuker, a former Wellingtonian, says he intends to use the JENESYS opportunity which is offered by the Japan Foundation through the Asia New Zealand Foundation to work on his next novel.

The JENESYS (Japan East Asia Network of Exchange of Students and Youths) programme invites applications from young and emerging art professionals under the age of 35 for a two month long residency in Japan.

The JENESYS residency that he has been awarded will allow him to return to Japan where he lived for 18 months during when he researched his 2005 novel The Method Actors. The book won the Prize in Modern Letters in 2006.

Mr Shuker’s new book will be set in Meiji-era Japan. The Meiji Period from 1868 to 1912 represented a time of social, political and industrial revolution in Japan that saw the country transformed into a modern power.

The JENESYS initiative is offered by the Japan Foundation in 13 Asia-Pacific countries including New Zealand. The application process for New Zealand art professionals is facilitated by the Asia New Zealand Foundation.

The programme includes round-trip airfares between Japan and New Zealand as well as accommodation and other expenses.

Carl Shuker who is a graduate of Victoria University says he has been living and writing in London since May 2006. He published his second novel The Lazy Boys that year and is currently working on a screenplay of the book with funding from the New Zealand Film Commission.

His Three Novellas for a Novel, a book-length work of new fiction was published online in June 2008. You can view it at www.threenovellasforanovel.com.

For more information about Carl Shuker or about the JENESYS opportunity, contact Asia New Zealand Foundation project officer Monica Turner on 04 470 8708 or by email at mturner@asianz.org.nz

ENDS

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