Acclaimed writer Alice Miller has been appointed Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) and Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence for 2027.

While holding the residency, Alice will work on a number of projects including a new novel, a collection of poems, and a commissioned libretto for an opera to mark the 50th anniversary of the Erebus disaster. Alice will also work with her Norwegian partner on a series of contemporary literature from Aotearoa translated into Norwegian.

Alice’s work spans poetry, fiction, and the essay. Her poetry collections include The Limits (2014), Nowhere Nearer (2018), which received a prestigious UK Poetry Book Society Recommendation, and What Fire (2021). Her new book, Here & Thereafter, has just been published in the UK. Her debut novel More Miracle Than Bird was published in USA in 2020 by Tin House Books, and was named a New York Times Book Review Summer Reading Selection and an Editors Pick for Best Literature and Fiction at Amazon. She has also twice been the winner of the Landfall Essay Prize. Her other awards include the Creative New Zealand Louis Johnson Bursary, the Bank of New Zealand Katherine Mansfield Premier Award, and the Berlin Senate Stipend for non-German literature.

Alice is a graduate of Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in History and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. In 2005 she received a Master of Arts from the IIML and in 2008 a Master of Fine Arts from the Iowa Writers Workshop. Alice has worked for several years at the Waitangi Tribunal and the United Nations. She has taught writing in both the US and in Europe. Alice returns this year from living for 15 years in Europe, a decision she wrote about recently for Newsroom.  

Professor Damien Wilkins, Director of the International Institute of Modern Letters, says, “Alice has an extraordinary set of literary skills and it will be exciting to see her writing projects develop over the year.”

Commenting on the appointment, Alice says, “How amazing to get to spend a year on these projects back at the IIML, where it all began for me as a writer. After 15 years away from Aotearoa, I’m so lucky to come home to this. Especially in these rocky times, to have a year among the brilliant community at Bill Manhire House is a massive privilege.”

Alice takes up the residency at the IIML in February 2027.