The Caselberg Trust Margaret Egan Cities of Literature Writers Residency opened to writers from around the world last Friday to mark International Writers’ Day.
This year, applicants from one of the 41 other Unesco Cities of Literature will have the opportunity to visit Dunedin, and then applications will open to New Zealanders during the 2024 residency.
The residency is run jointly by the Caselberg Trust and Dunedin Unesco City of Literature, and is timed to coincide with the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival.
It would give an author the opportunity to live and write in the Caselberg House, Broad Bay, for six weeks from October to November.
City of Literature director Nicky Page said it aimed to create connections among writers both within New Zealand and internationally.
"It also offers writers an opportunity to work on a substantial piece of creative writing over six weeks, with no limits on genre, language or length of writing," she said.
Funding from the trust was thanks to a bequest by the late Margaret Egan, who was passionate about all things creative during both her work and personal life as an educator, linguist and a traveller.
Caselberg Trust chairwoman Janet Downs said establishing the residency in Egan’s name would honour her life and the creative things she believed in and loved.
Applications are open now and close on April 14, and New Zealanders are encouraged to look out for the 2024 residency application, March next year.
— Staff reporter
