Michael King Writers' Centre Newsletter

Newsletter May 2017

Autumn is well and truly here with glorious colours and falling leaves on the Maunga.   It is ten years since the centre was officially opened by the then Prime Minister Helen Clark and in that time we have had the privilege of hosting forty residencies for New Zealand writers and run a raft of writing programmes. We have been working on some improvements to the interior of the centre by way of new curtains and having some painting done. It feels good to be improving the house for our writers.   May is an exciting month for writing in Aotearoa with the Ockham Awards and the Auckland Writers Festival. We were proud to have some of our alumni nominated for both the long and shortlists – those included were Sarah Laing, Vincent O’ Sullivan, Chris Price and Frankie McMillan (our current University of Auckland/MKWC resident).  Vivienne Plumb was also involved as a judge for the poetry award.   One of our past trustees, Peter Simpson, was on the shortlist for his book Bloomsbury South: The Arts in Christchurch 1933-1953. Also on the shortlist was our upcoming Early Summer Residency recipient Anthony Byrt for his book This Model World: Travels to the Edge of Contemporary Art. Warm congratulations to all nominated writers and the various category winners. We love your work.   Read on for more news and information …     Tania Stewart Administrator