Open Call: Creative New Zealand Randell Cottage Writing Fellowship

Two writers’ residencies are offered annually at the Randell Cottage: one is available to New Zealand writers and the other to French nationals. The usual timing is for the French residency to take place in the first half of the calendar year and the New Zealand residency in the second half of the year.

Funding Information

• The Residency offers:
  • Rent-free accommodation in the two-bedroom central city cottage and a stipend in the order of $32,000 funded by Creative New Zealand.
  • The residency will run from July to December 2025.

Eligibility Criteria

• They are looking for writers whose work has already been published or performed and well received. They particularly want to hear from mid-career and Māori and Pasifika writers:
  • They know that mid-career is a broad and elastic term. For them, it covers writers who may have published one or two or even three books, writers who may have had a significant body of well-received work (such as essays, poems and short stories) published on websites, in journals or anthologies or performed either locally or internationally, and who may have appeared at international literary festivals. They are looking for the writer who is no longer “emerging” but isn’t quite yet “established” and to whose career this residency would represent a significant boost.
• Applicants must be New Zealand citizens by birth, registration, or residency.
• Your proposal may be in any genre, including:
  • Fiction
  • Poetry
  • Children’s writing
  • Drama
  • Biography
  • Other literary non-fiction
  • Writing on arts topics

Ineligibility Criteria

• The following persons are not eligible for selection:
  • Employees of Creative New Zealand
  • Members of the Arts Council, The Arts Board, Te Waka Toi and the Pacific Arts Committee
  • Students of tertiary institutions working towards the completion of a tertiary qualification
  • Current trustees of the Randell Cottage.

Selection Criteria

• Major factors in making the selection will be the literary achievement of the applicant to date, and the ability to produce a work of substantial literary quality.
• The Trustees and their advisers will make the final selection.

Application Requirements

• The writer will be expected to participate in any associated social activities and be prepared to promote the Trust and the residency at every opportunity.
• The writer may be required to make the Cottage available to the public for a day during the tenancy, generally in late October for the Open Day that is part of the Wellington Heritage Festival. Any associated costs, within reason, will be met by the RCWT.
• The Trust will make every effort to promote the resident writer and his or her work during the residency including on the RCWT website.
• A printed acknowledgment and the logo of the RCWT and Creative New Zealand are expected in any published work that results from holding the residency.
• Within two months of completing the residency, the writer will provide a report on progress with their project, including any comments on the residency itself.

For more information, visit Randell Cottage Writers Trust.