New Zealand Lamplight Residency (Poetry)
International Lamplight Residency (Poetry) Aotearoa New Zealand
Co-presented by Varuna and michael king writers centre, Aotearoa new zealand
Join us for a special poetry-focused online residency and enjoy the warmth and support of Varuna and The Michael King Writers Centre. Find inspiration for your writing, enjoy professional development opportunities, and build connections with other writers to sustain your creative project.
This program is generously supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Eligibility
This program is only open to Australian writers who have a publication record, or to New Zealand writers via the Michael King Writers Centre. Participants will be chosen considering the balance of the group as a whole, including the focus of each person’s work, gender, age and diversity.
Program
This week-long online residency includes:
A one-on-one editorial conversation with Dr Toby Fitch, Poetry Editor of Overland, to talk about your current work.
An online Q&A session with Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh
An online Q&A session with Dr Felicity Plunkett
Facilitated professional networking opportunities with your peers throughout the week, including the opportunity to share work, talk about process, and receive feedback.
Places limited to six only. Three participants will be in Australia, and three participants will be in New Zealand.
Participants need to allow at least 1 hour at specific times every day for programmed sessions, with the expectation that you will spend at least three hours dedicated writing time each day (although this is flexible according to your own personal circumstances). Participants will need a reliable internet connection, and a computer or mobile phone with a webcam and microphone.
Program dates: Monday 22 November – Saturday 27 November 2021. The program for the week is available here.
For Australian writers, the cost of the program is $395, or $295 for Varuna alumni. This program is open to alumni and published writers only. To apply, please submit a brief expression of interest here. For program enquiries please contact amy@varuna.com.au.
Expressions of interest close 7 November 2021.
For New Zealand writers, please visit www.writerscentre.org.nz for more about program fees and how to apply.
ABOUT MICHAEL KING WRITERS CENTRE, AUCKLAND
The Michael King Writers Centre is Aotearoa New Zealand’s national writers’ facility and literary centre, supporting the development of outstanding New Zealand writing. The centre is based in the historic Signalman’s House on the slopes of Takarunga Mt Victoria in Devonport, Auckland.
Michael King’s program includes supported residencies for New Zealand writers, specialist workshops and occasional literary events.
ABOUT DR TOBY FITCH
Toby Fitch
Toby Fitch is poetry editor of Overland, a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Sydney, and organiser of the poetry night at Sappho Books in Glebe.
Toby is the editor or co-editor of numerous anthologies, including the forthcoming Best of Australian Poems 2021. His poetry collections include Rawshock, which won the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry 2012; The Bloomin’ Notions of Other & Beau; Where Only the Sky had Hung Before; and, most recently, Sydney Spleen. (Giramondo 2021).
Toby lives on unceded Awabakal land and you can read his writing at tobyfitch.net.
Varuna is grateful to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and to the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund for their support of this project.
Selina Tusitala Marsh
ABOUT SELINA TUSITALA MARSH
Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh is of Samoan, Tuvaluan, English and French descent. She was the first Pacific Islander to graduate with a PhD in English from The University of Auckland and is now a lecturer in the English Department, specialising in Pasifika literature. Her first collection, the bestselling Fast Talking PI, won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry in 2010. As Commonwealth Poet (2016), she composed and performed for the Queen at Westminster Abbey. She became New Zealand's Poet Laureate in 2017.
Felicity Plunkett
About dr felicity plunkett
Felicity Plunkett is an award-winning poet and critic. She is the author of A Kinder Sea (UQP), Vanishing Point (UQP) and the chapbook Seastrands (Vagabond) and editor of Thirty Australian Poets (UQP). She is a widely published writer of reviews, essays and the occasional short story, and served as the Poetry Editor with University of Queensland Press for ten years. She has a PhD from the University of Sydney, and was awarded an Excellence in Teaching Award during her years as a university lecturer at the University of Sydney, University of Queensland and University of New England. She has been Chief Examiner of NSW’s HSC English Extension course for five years, and now works as a mentor with both students and teachers.