Talented writers gain Creative New Zealand awards

University of Iowa Residency

Wellington writer Craig Cliff has been awarded the 2013 University of Iowa International Writing Program Residency.

He plans to work on a second short story collection, ‘’about travel, transience and disastrous first dates’’, tentatively titled Offshore Service.

Cliff’s collection of short stories, A Man Melting, won Best First Book in the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. In 2012, he was a judge of the inaugural Commonwealth Short Story Prize and had stories translated into Spanish and German. He writes a column for The Dominion Post about his double life as a writer and public servant in Wellington. Craig Cliff’s first novel, The Mannequin Makers, is due out in August 2013.

‘’I’m stoked to be given this opportunity to fly the New Zealand flag in Iowa and engage with the diverse cast of other writers on the International Writing Program,’’ Cliff says. “The residency comes at an exciting time for me, with my new novel coming out in August. The break from full-time work in Wellington means I’ll be able to devote myself to my next project in Iowa.’’

The annual University of Iowa residency is open to both emerging and established writers. A Creative New Zealand Arts Board grant goes towards airfares, accommodation and living expenses for the selected writer. The University of Iowa’s International Writing Program brings together writers from around the world to join a lively literary community on campus.

2013 Louis Johnson New Writers’ Bursary

Novelist Kirsten McDougall has been awarded the 2013 Creative New Zealand Louis Johnson New Writers’ Bursary.  McDougall has a Masters in Creative Writing from Victoria University and published her first novel, The Invisible Rider, to critical acclaim in 2012.

Wellington-based McDougall has also been published in Sport, Turbine and Big Weather: Poems of Wellington. She will use the bursary to complete a new novel called The Underground.

Published writers at an early stage of their career, who apply to the Arts Board for an arts grant in the March funding round, are automatically considered for this bursary. The bursary is partly funded by a donation from the estate of poet, writer, reviewer and broadcaster, Louis Johnson.