The Michael King Writers Centre in association with Varuna, The National Writers’ House in Katoomba, NSW, Australia is pleased to announce a new residency for New Zealand writers.

The writer awarded the residency will receive return flights to Sydney, four weeks accommodation and meals at Varuna, a NZ$5,000 stipend and the opportunity to appear at the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival. The residency is from 25 September to 23 October 2022.

Applications open Wednesday 30 March and close Monday 25 April.

For the application form and more details see: https://writerscentre.org.nz/applications-2022-varuna-residency/

WHO CAN APPLY?

* We actively seek and encourage all writers – diverse in age, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, and perspective – to apply.

* The residency is open to mid-career or established writers who have had a book published in the last two years.

Australian writer Kate Mildenhall has already been selected to hold the reciprocal residency. She will hold a four-week residency, also in October, at the Michael King Writers Centre in Auckland.

This International Writers Residency Program is supported by Copyright Licensing New Zealand’s newly created Partnership Fund, Copyright Agency (Australia) Partnership Fund and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Chair of the Board of Trustees, Melanie Laville-Moore says ‘Losing professional international opportunities has been a tough consequence of the pandemic for many of our established writers in Aotearoa. The Michael King Writers Centre is delighted with this important new partnership with Varuna House in Australia. It is heartening to see Copyright Licensing New Zealand and Copyright Agency (Australia) both investing in writers through their Cultural Funds.”

For more information on the exchange see Michael King Writers Centre Website.