Ursula Bethell Creative New Zealand Residency in Creative Writing 2012
I’m delighted to be able to let you all know that I’ve been awarded the Ursula Bethell Creative New Zealand Residency in Creative Writing 2012 at the University of Canterbury, jointly with David Eggleton, a leading New Zealand poet, editor, critic, writer, and filmmaker. David is currently the editor of Landfall, New Zealand’s longest established literary journal.
Needless to say, it is a tremendous honour to be awarded the residency and even more so to share it with a fellow writer of David Eggleton’s calibre. At present it is proposed that I hold the residency until July 31 2012, and David Eggleton for the remainder of the year.
The project I will be working on within that period is The Wall of Night Book Three, Daughter of Blood.
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For those who are not familiar with it, here is a brief description of the Ursula Bethell Residency:
“The Ursula Bethell Residency, jointly funded by Creative New Zealand, was established in 1979 to provide support for New Zealand writers and foster New Zealand writing. The Residency allows authors of proven merit in all areas of literacy and creative activity, including drama, fiction and poetry, an opportunity to work on an approved project within an academic environment.
Applicants should be authors of proven merit normally resident in New Zealand, or New Zealanders temporarily resident overseas.”
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Ursula Bethell, 1874-1945, for whom the residency is named, is recognised as one of the pioneers of modern New Zealand poetry and the following summation is from The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography:
“Like others of her generation she was forced to confront the tension between her English origins and sympathies and her New Zealand milieu. In addition she was drawn to examine the disjunctions between religious certainty and everyday experience. Her attempts at developing a poetic voice to express her enlarged understanding were bold and innovative; in all her observations she looked with new eyes.”
Congratulations!
Woooohoo! So proud of you, Helen! Well deserved. π
That’s amazing news Helen! Congrats and good luck with the new novel π
Well done! That’s fantastic π
That’s terrific news – and well-deserved. I’m looking forward to reading the results of the residency π
Thank you all for your good wishes and positive feedback–you’re all terrific folk and I really appreciate the support! And Gillian–you cannot look forward to reading it nearly as much–no matter “how” much you do look forward–as I do to getting it ‘to” you to read! π (I think that makes sense!)
It makes sense!
Ah, thank goodness! π
Awesome! Well done!
Thank you, Jan.
Big Congratulations to you Helen! This is fabulous and so well deserved!
Woot!!!!
And, you are making great strides for speculative fiction everywhere, to have our SFF genre acknowledged by an academic award of such high standard! So proud of you!!!
Thank you so much, Kim—you are very kind to say so. If I can help carry the banner for speculative fiction then I feel that I am doing good work. And residencies undoubtedly do help, hugely in fact, but the ‘bottom line’ is always people liking your work enough to buy it, because without that only a tiny handful of writers can ‘keep going.’ But that’s the world we live in, isn’t it: eveything comes back to the bottom line in some way or other–and writers are not exempt from real life!
That it is indeed great news, Helen, and another very welcome sign that the literary establishment is becoming increasingly prepared to acknowledge and support speculative fiction writers. Congratulations!
Fantastic news, Helen! I’m so, so pleased for you! How wonderful π
Wonderful news Helen – a great way to start 2012 after the mess that 2011 made of itself. Hope this offers the pathway to relax and enjoy the writing of book three.
Congratulations Helen…
Tim, Wen, Nicole, Robin: thank you all so much again!
Tim–I think you have done sterling work, with “Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry of New Zealand” and your ‘interstitial’ short fiction collection, “Transported”, to bring speculative writers and writing into a more mainstream position within NZ literature.
Nicole–2011 has felt very much like “the year of awful”, living in a seriously compromised house in a broken city, and trying to finish one book and begin another … I think the residency really opens up a pathway as you say for getting traction on Book 3 and enjoying writing it.
Thank you, Helen – it’s lovely of you to say so.
Tim, I am one of those ‘dreadful’ people: I only say what I truly think! (Mind you, there’s also a lot I truly think that I don’t ever say! π )
Congrats Helen, that’s fantastic news!
Thank you, Craig—nice of you to drop by and say so.:)
Congratulations Helen! This is wonderful news for you and for future ‘Daughter of the Blood’ readers…! Nice to be associated with Ursula Bethell, too.
Thank you, Rebecca–I think it’s really going to help me to focus on Daughter of Blood in an environment dedicated to exactly that sort of focus, so am looking forward to getting the story out within coo-ee (so to speak!) of The Gathering of the Lost, which of course is due out 27 March (USA/Canada) and 4 April (UK/AU/NZ.) And a large part of this is due to Gathering, as well as The Heir of Night and Thornspell, so I have my fingers crossed that the reading public will endorse the good vibe that’s starting to build around it (‘Gathering’, that is.) And I’ve just been putting the finishing touches to my Thornspell short story—so much fun to be part of that world again!
Fantastic news. I hope the University has a nice office ready for you, I’m not sure where they are with their buildings at the moment – still quite a few prefabs and temporary offices around the place, I think.
Catherine, the office is in the Department of English and I’m told that’s come through the earthquake relatively ok: you know, Ministry of Works designed concrete buildings from the 1970s: not a lot of flex maybe but foundations “for Africa.” So I am hopeful of having a ‘proper office.’
Congratulations Helen. And what a boost for SpecFic. A step towards acceptance perhaps?
Thanks, Morag. And as I posted on Mary Victoria’s blog earlier. I believe that Eleanor Catton, who has been awarded the Michael King fellowship for next year, is also working on a speculative fiction project.
Congratulations on this significant acheivement.
I agree with Kim Falconer – it is a boost for the genre of science fiction and fantasy.
I hope the academic life will be a positive experience for you.
Thank you, June—I am planning on “working like anything” Brandon Sanderson style, although even then I am not quite sure if I will get to 10 hours a day: that is the ‘stuff of legend!’
Wow, that’s so cool! Big congratulations!
Fantastic news, such an accolade – well done π
And as others have said – this should certainly raise the flag for SpecFic.
Congratulations.
Janis, Mark, Jacqui: thank you all so much, I really appreciate the good will & positive vibe. π
oh congratulations Helen, my most sincere and heartfelt congratulations to you, this is a wonderful tribute to your undisputed talent in your literary domain!! it is marvellous news.
Margot—thank you so much for your enthusiasm and warm wishes.
Hello Helen– congratulations on the residency, and hooray for speculative fiction! This is great news! feel free to send me an email if you have any questions about anything or if you would like to chat or have a cuppa sometime this month. I should be around Christchurch until just after the 31st so we may overlap for a couple of days at least. Warm wishes, Eleanor Catton
Ellie, I’d love to chat—I shall email you ‘offline.’