Writer in Residence
The Writer in Residence is an annual appointment to foster New Zealand writing, with support from Creative New Zealand.
This is a full-year residency. Applications normally open mid-year and close late September for the following year's position.
About the residency
The Writer in Residence appointment is jointly funded by Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington and Creative New Zealand and housed at the University's International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML). It has been created to foster New Zealand writing by providing the appointee with the opportunity to write full-time within an academic environment for the period of tenure.
Other residencies
We also offer a three-month Emerging Pasifika Writer in Residency and a three-month Emerging Māori Writer's Residency, both funded by Creative New Zealand.
Current Writer in Residence— Dr Ingrid Horrocks
An acclaimed memoirist, essayist, poet, and fiction writer, Ingrid's most recent book of essays, Where We Swim (Te Herenga Waka University Press), was published internationally to rave reviews, with the Australian Book Review calling it 'luminous' and 'a work of wondrous depth'. Her previous books include Travelling with Augusta, 1835 & 1999 (THWUP), which was translated into Italian; Women Wanderers and the Writing of Mobility 1784–1814 (Cambridge University Press); and a book of poetry Mapping the Distance (THWUP). Her essays, poems, short stories, and reviews have appeared in many places including The Guardian, LitHub, Landfall, Sport, and New Zealand Geographic.
Ingrid has a BA (Hons) in English Literature from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, and a PhD from Princeton University. She taught for many years at Massey University before resigning in 2022 to devote herself to writing full-time.
While holding the residency, Ingrid will work on a book of eco-fiction tentatively titled Marvellous Instruments. The collection will explore the space between the novel and the short story, and questions such as: 'How do we write women's lives?' and ‘How might art help us live differently in relation to one another and to a world in crisis?'
- Te Herenga Waka University Press author profile
- 'Shifting Currents' (Australian Book Review, August 2021))
Previous writers in residence
Copyright for the images below belongs to Robert Cross.
