A new visitor centre at Janet Frame House in Oamaru is shaping up and has received a $10,000 boost on the anniversary of the acclaimed author’s birth.

The visitor centre, due to open next year, will “provide new ways to tell Frame’s story, and keep her legacy alive”, the Janet Frame Eden Street Trust chairwoman Chloe Searle said.

 The trust was “immensely grateful” to have received funding from the author’s estate towards the new visitor centre, she said.

“It is wonderful to be bringing this long-awaited project to completion.”

She thanked the “many generous donors” to the project.

The $10,000 was given to coincide with what would have been Frame’s 102nd birthday last month.

The trust was established to preserve the property and promote appreciation of Frame’s life and writing.

The house opened to the public in 2005 and welcomes domestic and international visitors.

Award-winning New Zealand poet Kate Camp is visiting Oamaru next month for two events organised by the Janet Frame Eden Street Trust.

She will discuss her new memoir Leather & Chains: My 1986 Diary at Oamaru Library from 6pm to 7pm on October 2.

Camp’s book was a “wonderful starting point for thinking about the stories we keep about our own lives”, said Ms Searle, who added that Frame was well known for her memoir writing.

“Janet Frame’s beloved three-volume autobiography is one of the nation’s greatest monuments to the lasting power of memory, so this is a very fitting subject for our events this year.”

A creative writing workshop takes place Waitaki Girls’ High School  on October 3.