2010/2011 Beatson Fellow Announced

The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc.) is very pleased to announce that the 2010/2011 recipient of the NZSA Beatson Fellowship is Carl Nixon.

Carl intends to put the grant towards the completion of a new collection of short fiction which will include his Katherine Mansfield Award winning story ‘My Beautiful Balloon’. Thematically, the collection is about responsibility of parents for children and members of communities for each other.

Tina Shaw, who administers the award on behalf of the Society commented “We had a very strong field of applications this year which made the selection particularly difficult. However the panel was unanimous in is decision and we are delighted that we are able to offer this unique opportunity to such a talented writer”’

Carl Nixon is a professional full-time writer of plays, short stories and novels. He lives with his wife and two children in Christchurch where he was born in 1967. His novel Rocking Horse Road was published by Random House in 2007, and his second novel Settlers’ Creek has just been released.

Carl will receive $6,800 and the chance, if he so wishes, to stay in the Beatsons’ Foxton house. Last year’s recipient was Glenn Colquhoun.

This award is generously sponsored by Dianne and Peter Beatson.