Applications are now open for the 2022 Creative New Zealand Randell Cottage Writing Fellowship. The fellowship comprises a stipend, currently set at $27,450, and six months’ rent-free accommodation in one of Wellington’s oldest colonial buildings: Randell Cottage at 14 St Mary Street in Thorndon.

The Trust is particularly interested in hearing from mid-career and Māori and Pasifika writers.

In 2022, in response to Covid 19 and the continued disruption of international travel, the Creative New Zealand RCWT residency will again run from 1 April to 30 September.

“We remain hopeful that Caroline Laurent, the 2021 French lauréate, whose arrival in New Zealand has been delayed by Covid 19 border restrictions, will be able to join us during the year and to spend at least some time at Randell Cottage,” Trust chair Christine Hurley said.

Built in Thorndon in 1867, the Cottage has been painstakingly restored and is close to the National Library, the Turnbull Library and National Archive. It’s provided a peaceful inner-city base for writers from a range of genres: novelists, poets, biographers…

The first New Zealand resident was Peter Wells, in 2002. He’s been followed by Tim Corballis, Michael Harlow, Renée, Beryl Fletcher, Whiti Hereaka, Jennifer Compton, Kirsty Gunn, Pat White, Peter Walker, Vivienne Plumb, Denis Welch, Tina Makereti, Witi Ihimaera, Owen Marshall, Stephanie Johnson, Stephen Daisley, James Norcliffe, Paddy Richardson, Michalia Arathimos, and Lynn Davidson.

The Creative New Zealand Randell Cottage Writing Fellow is selected by a Trust-appointed committee to work on an approved project. The deadline for applications is Friday, 5 November 2021. The successful applicant will be announced in December.

Application forms and further information can be found at www.randellcottage.co.nz/residency/

Note: The 2022 fellowship is advertised subject to confirmation of funding from CNZ’s Arts Grants programme. Those decisions are expected in early to mid-November.