Visiting Writers

Amy McDaid has a Master of Creative Writing from the University of Auckland. The draft of her first novel Wind Air Sky Guy won the…

Kristina Belich, a bloggette, stand-up comic sort of thing from New York City, travels the world, and seeks ultimate truth. As a personal note: I…

Originally coming from Ukraine, Nataliya is a Christchurch based academic, actress, street performer and an emerging playwright. With a PhD in Russian studies and particular…

John Downie has been a visiting writer at the Michael King Writers’ Centre twice, first in 2013 and again in 2014. In 2014 he worked on…

Artist, potter, conservationist and railway enthusiast Barry Brickell has been a visiting writer at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and…

Sarah Stonich is an American writer and editor based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was a visiting writer at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in early 2015,…

Author Jaspreet Singh was a visiting writer at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in March 2015. It was the second time he was resident at…

In the summer of 2016, I was staying in an AirBnB in Devonport and a friend drove me to the top of Mount Victoria to…

Dunedin writer Laurence Fearnley was awarded the 2016 NZSA/Auckland Museum Research Grant (taken up in 2017). Laurence’s project focuses on landscape and scent and is…

Joan Norlev Taylor stayed at the centre as the recipient of the NZSA/Auckland Museum Research Grant, (awarded in 2017 and taken up in 2018). During…

Margaret Brosnahan, from Northland, first stayed as a visiting writer  for several weeks during the first half of 2015. She returned in 2018 but this…

Jenny Haworth is well-known as both publisher and writer. She is a regular visitor to the centre and  in 2014  was awarded the NZ Society…

Warwick Pudney has been a regular visiting writer, spending time at the centre most years to devote time to his writing . He is senior…

Tui was born in Te Awamutu but spent 40 years living in Auckland before returning to live in the Waikato in the year 2000. She…

Michael Woodcock is a New Zealander living in Rural Wairarapa (Carterton) with his wife Gaye, on their small farm nestled close to the Tararua Mountains.…

Mary Macpherson is a Wellington poet and photographer. She completed an MA in Creative Writing at Victoria University in 2006 and her work has appeared…

Ivy Alvarez is the author of The Everyday English Dictionary (London: Paekakariki Press, 2016), Hollywood Starlet (Chicago: dancing girl press), Disturbance (Wales: Seren, 2013), and Mortal. A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, her…

Brigid Lowry has an MA in Creative Writing.  Auckland-born, she now lives in Western Australia but spends as much time in Aotearoa as she can.…

Katharine Derrick lives in Kerikeri and writes mainly for children and young adults. She once had a fifty-word story published in Brian Edwards’ Book of…

Donna Blaber writes fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. She is an experienced journalist, magazine editor and author. Her first book, New Zealand Driving Holidays,…

Hussein describes himself as a late starter who began writing in 1999 by request, on accounts of experiences in the remote back country and the…

Daniel Wynne is an Australian writer whose short fiction has appeared in publications like Griffith Review, Voiceworks and 100 Stories for Queensland. Originally from Frankston, Victoria, he’s spent the…

Paolo is an award-winning Italo-Kiwi artist working in Film, Television and Theatre in New Zealand for twenty years as a writer, actor and director. In…

Dr. Dorothy Howie is an honorary researcher in the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland. She is the author of two books on…

Christine Hayvice is a Kiwi who has lived in Canada for many years, but these days spends part of the year living in New Zealand.…

Zoë Meager is from Christchurch, New Zealand. She studied a Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Auckland in 2012, and in 2013 won…

Irene grew up in Central Otago and now lives in Ireland, where her short stories have been published and broadcast. She was nominated for a…

Christine Hayvice is a New Zealander who has lived in Canada for many years, but she returns to the place of her birth regularly. She…

Meg Torwl, a New Zealander who lived in Canada, stayed at the centre in early 2013. She described the centre as “superb beyond all expectations”.…

Wendyl Nissen is an Auckland journalist who works across newspapers, magazines, television and radio. She is the author of Bitch and Famous (Penguin), a memoir of her…

After a lifetime writing academic essays and reports, Suzanne Singleton now writes fiction. She has observed a variety of people and places throughout many years…

Imagine having a room in which to write, with a heavy old door that keeps the noise out, in a building that has stood strong…

Jill Jones is an Australian poet who has published six full-length books of poetry including Dark Bright Doors, 2010; Broken/Open, 2005; Screens Jets Heaven: New and Selected Poems,…

Gordon Ogilvie (1934 – 2017) A Christchurch historian and biographer. He was a visiting writer at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in October 2012, when…

Anna Wilding has carved an internationally-recognised and award-winning career as a writer, director, producer and actress. Born in Christchurch, Anna has spent half her life…

Annette Willis, who collaborates with Australian poet Jill Jones and who has a great interest in New Zealand writers such as Janet Frame, stayed at…

Sue Perkins has been a regular visiting writer to the MKWC since 2008. Originally from Devon, England, she emigrated with a young family and now…

Louise Deans was one of four Christchurch writers offered a free week at the Michael King Writers’ Centre as a respite from the Canterbury earthquakes.…

Deborah is from Brighton,England.  She completed her MA at Sussex University, where she now works.  Deborah fell in love with New Zealand when she came to visit…

Caren Wilton is a Wellington-based writer, editor, oral historian and wannabe documentary filmmaker. The author of short-story collection The Heart Sutra (University of Otago Press, 2003), and…

Joan Rosier-Jones was born in Christchurchand has lived in London, Wellington and Auckland, and now lives in Wanganui. She started her working life as a…

Devonport resident Helen Sword is a scholar, teacher, artist and poet who has published widely on modernist literature, higher education pedagogy, digital poetics, and academic writing. Born…

Andie Palmer is a linguistic and legal anthropologist conducting research on comparative legal systems and cross-cultural miscommunication. She is in Aotearoa New Zealand to observe…

Tracy Farr’s novel The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt was published by Fremantle Fress in July 2013. Tracy completed the first draft of the manuscript while…

Paul Diamond (Ngäti Hauä, Te Rarawa and Ngäpuhi) is a writer, historian and broadcaster. After working as an accountant for seven years, he switched to…

UK-born Jill Marshall is best known as the author of the Jane Blonde spy series for children published by Macmillan Publishing. Jane Blonde books are…

Ann Beaglehole was born in Hungary and came to New Zealand (to Wellington) with her parents in 1956 after the Hungarian uprising against the former…