Auckland,
9 March 2016:
An “especially strong list of applicants” for New Zealand’s preeminent literary
fellowship has been whittled down to two.
New
Zealand writer and journalist Diana Wichtel and Dunedin writer Breton Dukes
will share the 2016 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship.
Now in its 30th year, the Fellowship is a national literary award offering published New
Zealand writers, both here and overseas, the opportunity to focus on their
craft full-time, providing an annual stipend of $20,000 and tenure at the
Sargeson Centre in Auckland.
Diana, who
has worked as the television and feature writer at the New Zealand Listener
since 1984, will be using the fellowship to work on a memoir exploring the
impact of the Holocaust on her own family history.
Diana’s
father survived the Holocaust by jumping from a train bound for Treblinka
extermination camp and hiding in the forest. After liberation he then moved to
Canada.
“The
fellowship is an incredible opportunity that I’m truly grateful for,” she says.
An acclaimed
short-story writer, Breton will be using the fellowship to work on his first
novel. The story begins with a helicopter crash and then follows a number of
characters after the crash.He says it is
incredible to be following in the path of so many accomplished New Zealand
writers.
The Trust is
delighted that Breton and Diana are the Grimshaw Sargeson fellows for 2016,
says Sargeson Trust chair Dr Elizabeth Aitken-Rose.
“They were
selected from an especially strong list of applicants and now join a large
group of distinguished fellows, many of whom are regarded as New Zealand’s most
eminent writers.
“For three
decades the Fellowship has offered writers time and space to work, often at a
key stage in their writing careers. Both Breton and Diana have strong
projects for their time in residence. We are certain the fellowship will be of
great help to them in taking their work to the next level.”
The
Fellowship will run from April 1 to November 30. Breton will have the first
stint at the residence with Diana finishing out the tenure.
Previous
winners include Alan Duff, Michael King, Marilyn Duckworth, and Janet Frame. In
2015 the fellowship was awarded to Robert Glancy and Duncan Sarkies.
The
fellowship has been recognising and supporting some of our greatest talents
for 30 years, says Paul Grimshaw, partner, Grimshaw & Co.
It offers vital support to New Zealand writers
to focus, uninterrupted, on their work, Grimshaw says. “They are contributing
to New Zealand’s literary landscape and we are very proud to support them
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