NZSA / Auckland Museum Research Grant + Residency – Recipient Announced 

The New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) and Auckland War Memorial Museum are delighted to announce the recipient of the NZSA Auckland Museum Research + Residency Grant.

The grant goes to Auckland writer Sarah Ell whose winning proposal will utilise research drawn from the Auckland Museum Library's extensive collections on New Zealand native species.

Sarah will receive a $5,000 grant and one month’s accommodation at The Michael King Writers Centre in Devonport while she undertakes her research. Sarah is a journalist by trade, born and bred on the North Shore, with a BA in History from Massey University. She completed the University of Auckland's Master of Creative Writing course last year and has written for both children and adults. Her tenth book, Ocean, was published in December 2018.

Selection panel convener Rae McGregor said “Sara Ell has an exciting project and we were captured by the Natural Science focus. This ties in well with work the Museum Library is doing with its Biodiversity Heritage Library, where digitising is in process with the aim to share the library’s records relating to the biodiversity with the world.

To quote Adam Moriarty co-selector: 'The synergies between these two projects and our digitisation effort seem to be perfectly aligned'. We were unanimous in agreeing that Sarah should be the recipient of this award."

Now in its seventh year, The NZSA / Auckland Museum Research + Residency Grant is a wonderful opportunity for writers to develop a manuscript thanks to a stipend, guided access to the Auckland Museum’s documentary heritage collections and four weeks accommodation at The Michael King Writers Centre.

Adam Moriarty, Head of Collection Information and Access at Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira says, “Working in collaboration with the NZSA, Auckland Museum is delighted to provide New Zealand writers access to our Documentary Heritage collection. The research library is a place of inspiration and information contained in our wealth of manuscripts, ephemera, newspapers and periodicals, rare and contemporary books and pamphlets, photographs and more.”

Past award winners have included historical novelists, archaeologists, biographers and recently a scriptwriter/playwright researching the earliest interaction of Pakeha and Māori for public performance.

For further information and for media enquiries: Claire Hill, Programmes + Operations Manager 09 3794801

authors.org.nz     aucklandmuseum.com