Applications are now open for the 2021 Creative New Zealand Randell Cottage Writers 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.

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

In 2021, the fellowship will run from 1 April to 30 September. Trust chair Sarah Dennis says the change of dates is prompted by border closures and the disruption to air travel caused by Covid-19.

“Moving the dates of our residency will allow greater flexibility to accommodate the 2021 French Randell writer, novelist Caroline Laurent, who will, we hope, be able to come to Wellington later in the year.”

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 and, in 2020, Michalia Arathimos.

The Randell Cottage Creative NZ Writer in Residence is selected by a Trust-appointed committee to work on an approved project. The deadline for applications is Friday, 6 November 2020. The successful applicant will be announced in December.

Application forms and further information and https://randellcottage.co.nz/residency/