It happened when she saw one of New Zealand’s most prominent poets, Kevin Ireland, give a "breathtaking" performance of his sequence of sonnets The Year of the Comet.
Now, the late poet is again providing Fearnley with inspiration, after she was recently awarded a 2026 Ireland Wilson Sargeson Fellowship.
Fearnley is one of two New Zealand writers to receive the $30,000 fellowship — named in memory of New Zealand writers Ireland, Phillip Wilson and Frank Sargeson — to write fulltime on book projects.
Fearnley said she was delighted to win the fellowship, partly because of its close association with Ireland.
"I was a student at Canterbury University in 1986 and was sat in room 104 of the English department when Kevin Ireland — the writer in residence — performed his sequence of sonnets, The Year of the Comet.
"It was a breathtaking event and one of the first times I experienced poetry as a living, breathing form.
"Forty years later, I have been fortunate enough to receive the Ireland Wilson Sargeson Fellowship."
The 62-year-old award-winning short-story writer, novelist and non-fiction writer has been the recipient of many writing awards and residencies, including the University of Otago Robert Burns Fellowship, the Janet Frame Memorial Award and the Artists to Antarctica Programme.
Her latest writing project is a series of novels based on the five senses: Scented (smell), Winter Time (touch), At the Grand Glacier Hotel (sound) and Dedication (sight — to be released in 2026).
She said she would use the fellowship to write the final novel in the sequence.
"My project, Rise and Shine, is to write a protest novel located on the Clutha/Mata-au River.
"The final of my five senses project, this novel will follow a middle-aged woman who decides to kayak the length of the Clutha as a protest against a planned open-cast goldmine that is to be built in the hills above the river, and which threatens the environment and the health of its surroundings.
"As someone who has kayaked on the river for many years, I felt compelled to write this novel.
"Knowing that Kevin Ireland was a keen fly-fisher, I feel that his spirit will guide me along the way as I write about floating, foraging and fishing."
The other fellowship winner is Auckland writer Bridget van der Zijpp — an author of three contemporary novels, published internationally.
Frank Sargeson Trust chairwoman Elizabeth Aitken-Rose said the fellowship had recognised and nurtured many of New Zealand’s exceptional writers for nearly 40 years.
The inaugural Sargeson Fellow was Janet Frame, in 1987.
"In 2026, Bridget van der Zijpp and Laurence Fearnley join this legacy.
"The fellowship will give them the time and support to focus on work that will undoubtedly embellish the imagination and understandings of us all."
