Calling All Writers - Applications Are Now Open For The 2022 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship

Winning a writing fellowship transforms a writer’s life – opening doors and providing writers with the opportunity to focus on their craft. Published authors from across New Zealand are encouraged to apply for the 2022 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship as entries are now open.

Throughout its 35-year history, the prestigious national literary award has offered writers the chance to focus on their craft full-time, while working in the historic Sargeson Centre and receiving a $20,000 stipend provided to the Fellow/Fellows.

Frank Sargeson Trust Chair Elizabeth Aitken-Rose says that it is now more important than ever to support the New Zealand literary community.

“The past two years have been a real trial for our writers, and it could be the same for years to come. We’re proud of the resilience of our community, and to take the Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship into its 35th year. The support Grimshaw & Co Lawyers has been providing us with is invaluable.”

Acclaimed writers Lee Murray and Chloe Lane were the recipients of last year’s Fellowship. Murray, the winner of a 2020 Bram Stoker Award, is in the middle of her tenure. While her time at the residency has been disrupted due to lockdown, Murray says she will return as soon as possible.

“In Aotearoa, opportunities for speculative writers are limited, so this kind validation of my work by the Grimshaw Sargeson selectors has been a huge boost to my career. It came at a time when I had come very close to giving up.

“The space above the art gallery is humble and cosy—the perfect hideaway for writing—and there’s something extremely special about staying in a place that has been shared by the country’s literary icons. Household names most of them, their legacy is like the ivy that permeates the building’s brickwork.

“The freedom to write is a rare gift. I only wish there were more such opportunities for New Zealand’s creatives. I encourage all writers to apply.”

Lane, who earned her MFA in Fiction from the University of Florida, has finished her tenure. She says that the residency provided her with uninterrupted time and the right headspace to work on her second novel.

“When I look back at what I arrived with and then what I left with, it's so much more than I could have ever achieved in four months on the outside. The apartment has a special energy about it too. It's a space that wants you to work, and it wants you to work well and hard and to maybe take some risks that you might not otherwise.”

Paul Grimshaw, Partner at Grimshaw and Co, says he continues to support the Fellowship because its writers make an invaluable contribution to New Zealand culture.

“We’re proud to help these writers focus, uninterrupted, on their work. They are contributing immensely to our country’s literary landscape.

Aitken-Rose also says that it is wonderful to see a diverse range of authors apply for the Fellowship across all genres and encourages all established writers to consider applying, whether they are poets, playwrights, novelists, or creative non-fictionalists.

Applications close on 15 October 2021, with the tenure due to start on 1 February 2022 and last until 30 September 2021. Further information on the Fellowship is available here. Any queries can be directed to Elizabeth Bennie at elizabeth.bennie@grimshaw.co.nz or on +64 9 375 2393. Learn more about Murray and Lane’s work during the fellowship here.

About Grimshaw & Co
Grimshaw & Co are leaders in dispute resolution, with experience across all areas of civil and commercial litigation.

About Frank Sargeson Trust
The Frank Sargeson Trust was formed in 1983 by Christine Cole Catley, Frank Sargeson’s heir and executor. The Trust aims to continue Sargeson’s lifelong generosity to writers through providing residential fellowships while preserving his house in Takapuna, Auckland, as New Zealand’s first literary museum. The first Fellowship was awarded to Janet Frame in 1987. Learn more about Frank Sargeson and the Fellowship here.

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