27 April 2010
Pat White is writer in residence at Randell Cottage

New Zealand writer Pat White started a six month term as writer in residence at Wellington's Randell Cottage last week.
Pat White says he is delighted to be living in Thorndon, so close to the natural walking areas of both the Botanic Gardens and Town Belt.
'The cottage is very close quality libraries, including the Turnbull Library,' he says,' which will be useful for my research on Peter Hooper.'
White is using his term as the Creative New Zealand Randell Cottage writer to work on a biography of Peter Hooper (1919 – 1991).  A West Coast writer, teacher and fellow environmentalist, Hooper wrote award-winning fiction, as well as poetry and non-fiction.

White himself is also an accomplished poet and will give two poetry readings during May:
·     Palmerston North - 7.00pm on 5 May at the City Library
·    Wellington -  7.30pm on 17 May as guest poet of the New Zealand Poetry Society at The Thistle Inn. 
White's published collections of poetry include Signposts (1977); Bushfall (1978); Cut Across the Grain (1980); Acts of Resistance (1985); Dark Backward (1994); Drought and Other Intimacies (1999); and Planting the Olives (2004). 

 White has also produced the paintings and sculpture for an exhibition and catalogue Gallipoli: In search of a family story, which has already been shown five times in the North Island and may appear again at the Waiouru Army Museum this August.  White was recently writer in residence at the Robert Lord Cottage in Dunedin, and he completed an MA in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters last year.
Randell Cottage hosts a French writer for six months of the year and a New Zealand writer for six months. White follows writer Fariba Hachtroudi, who has recently returned to France.      
www.randellcottage.co.nz