The Randell Cottage Writers' Residency is a literary residency in New Zealand. It is awarded annually to one New Zealand writer and one French writer, comprising six months' rent-free accommodation at Randell Cottage in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and a stipend ( set at 27,450). The recipients are usually mid-career writers. The cottage itself is listed with Heritage New Zealand.

History

The residency is based at Randell Cottage in the suburb of Thorndon, Wellington. The cottage was built in 1868 by William Randell, the great-grandfather of children's author

Beverley Randell Beverley Joan Randell Price (born 1931), known by the pen name Beverley Randell, is a New Zealand children's author, whose work has been published by 16 publishers in several languages. Born in Wellington, she studied English and History at Vict ...

. He and his wife Sarah raised their 10 children at the cottage. After seventy years of the cottage being owned by other families, Beverley and her husband, Hugh Price, bought the cottage in 1994 and restored it to how it had been at the time of William's ownership. In 2002, on the suggestion of her daughter

Susan Price Susan Price (born 8 July 1955) is an English author of children's and young adult novels. She has won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Prize for British children's books. Price was born in Dudley, Worcestershire (now West Midlands). ...

, Beverley Randell decided to gift the cottage to a trust for the purpose of setting up a writers' residency. The plan was partly inspired by an attempt to set up a similar residency in memory of the poet

Lauris Edmond Lauris Dorothy Edmond (née Scott, 2 April 1924 – 28 January 2000) was a New Zealand poet and writer. Biography Born in Dannevirke, Hawke's Bay, Edmond survived the 1931 Napier earthquake as a child. Trained as a teacher, she raised a famil ...

, which had been unsuccessful. It was the first dedicated writers' residency in Wellington. In part, the residency reciprocates the

Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship The Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship, formerly known as the New Zealand Post Katherine Mansfield Prize and the Meridian Energy Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship, is one of New Zealand's foremost literary awards. Named after Katherin ...

, which provides a residency based in France for New Zealand writers. The trust is supported by Creative New Zealand, the New Zealand–France Friendship Fund and the Wellington City Council.

Kirsty Gunn Kirsty Gunn (born 1960, New Zealand) is a novelist and writer of short stories. Her stories include "Rain", which led to the 2001 film of the same name, directed by Christine Jeffs and also the 2001 ballet by the Rosas Company, set to "Music ...

, 2009 writer-in-residence, described the cottage: Caroline Laurent, the 2021 French recipient, was unable to take up the residency during the year due to COVID-19 border restrictions. She eventually was able to{ take up her residency in December 2022.

Heritage registration

Randell Cottage was registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (now Heritage New Zealand) on 14 December 1995. The building has a Category II classification. The registration covers the building and the section it is placed on and the rationale for the listing was the "historical and cultural heritage significance and value". Some of the household items uncovered during the restoration of the cottage are held at

Te Papa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

Writers-in-residence

The recipients of the residency have been: {, class="wikitable" !Year !New Zealand recipient !French recipient , - , 2002 , , Peter Wells , , , - , 2003 , , Tim Corballis , ,

Charles Juliet Charles Juliet (born 30 September 1934) in Jujurieux in Ain, is a French poet, playwright and novelist. He won the 2013 Prix Goncourt de la Poésie. His works have been translated into German, Spanish, Italian, English, Polish, Japanese, Vietna ...

, - , 2004 , ,

Michael Harlow Michael Harlow (born 1937) is a poet, publisher, editor and librettist. A recipient of the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship (1986) and the University of Otago Robert Burns Fellowship (2009), he has twice been a poetry finalist in the New Z ...

, , Pierre Furlan , - , 2005 , ,

Renée Renée (without the accent in non-French speaking countries) is a French/Latin feminine given name. Renée is the female form of René, with the extra –e making it feminine according to French grammar. The name Renée is the French form of t ...

, ,

Dominique Mainard Dominique Mainard is a French translator of English novels, short story writer and novelist. She was born in Paris, France, in 1967 and grew up in the region of Lyon, and spent five years in the United States. She won the 2009 Prix des Libraires ( ...

, - , 2006 , , Beryl Fletcher , ,

Annie Saumont Annie Saumont (1927 – 31 January 2017) was a French short story writer and English to French translator. Saumont started as a specialist in English literature and an English to French translator. She has translated books by V.S. Naipaul, Nadine ...

, - , 2007 , ,

Whiti Hereaka Whiti Hereaka (born 1978) is a New Zealand playwright, novelist and screenwriter and a barrister and solicitor. She has held a number of writing residencies and appeared at literary festivals in New Zealand and overseas, and several of her books ...

, , , - , 2008 , ,

Jennifer Compton Jennifer Compton (born 1949) is a New Zealand-born Australian poet and playwright. Biography She was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1949 and attended Wellington East Girls' College. In the 1970s she emigrated to Sydney, Australia with her ...

, , , - , 2009 , ,

, ,

Fariba Hachtroudi Fariba Hachtroudi ( fa, فریبا هشترودی; born 1951 in Teheran) is a French-Iranian journalist and writer. Early life Fariba Hachtroudi is the daughter of Mohsen Hashtroodi, a prominent Iranian mathematician, and Robab Hashtroodi, a prof ...

, - , 2010 , , Pat White , , Yann Apperry , - , 2011 , , Peter Walker , , , - , 2012 , , Vivienne Plumb , , , - , 2013 , ,

Denis Welch Denis Welch (16 March 1945 – 27 July 2014) was a British racing driver and businessman. Denis Welch Motorsport Welch founded ''Denis Welch Motorsport'' in 1976, specialising in parts for Austin-Healey and Jaguar (car), Jaguar cars. The comp ...

, , Estelle Nollet , - , 2014 , ,

Tina Makereti Tina Makereti is a New Zealand novelist, essayist, and short story writer, editor and creative writing teacher. Her work has been widely published and she has been the recipient of writing residencies in New Zealand and overseas. Her book ''Onc ...

, , , - , 2015 , ,

Witi Ihimaera Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler (; born 7 February 1944) is a New Zealand author. Raised in the small town of Waituhi, he decided to become a writer as a teenager after being convinced that Māori people were ignored or mischaracterised in literat ...

Owen Marshall Owen Marshall Jones (born 17 August 1941, Te Kuiti, New Zealand), who writes under the pen name Owen Marshall, is a New Zealand short story writer and novelist. The third son of a Methodist minister younger brother of Allan Jones, and older br ...

, , , - , 2016 , , Stephanie Johnson , ,

Nicolas Fargues Nicolas Fargues (born 8 March 1972) is a French novelist. From 1998 to 2002, he had various jobs in journalism, libraries and publishing. He published two novels ''Le Tour du propriétaire'' (2000) and ''Demain si vous le voulez bien'' (2001) be ...

, - , 2017 , ,

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley (born 1955) is a New Zealand novelist. Daisley won the 2011 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction for his novel ''Traitor'' and the Ockham New Zealand Book Award, 2016, for his second novel ''Coming Rain.'' Biography ...

, , , - , 2018 , ,

James Norcliffe James Norcliffe is a novelist, short story writer, poet, editor, teacher and educator. His work has been widely published and he has been the recipient of a number of writing residencies. Several of his books have been shortlisted for or won award ...

, , , - , 2019 , ,

Paddy Richardson Paddy Richardson is a writer who lives in Dunedin, New Zealand. She has published two collections of short stories, ''Choices'' (Hard Echo Press, 1986) and ''If We Were Lebanese'' (Steele Roberts, 2003), and three novels, ''The Company of a Dau ...

, , , - , 2020 , ,

Michalia Arathimos Michalia Arathimos is a Greek–New Zealand writer. She has held several writers' residencies in New Zealand, and received several awards for her short stories. Her debut novel, ''Aukati'', was published in 2017. Life and career Arathimos was b ...

, , , - , 2021 , , Lynn Davidson , , , - , 2022 , , Rose Lu , , Caroline Laurent , - , 2023, , , , Sedef Ecer

References

External links

Official website

"Saving Randell Cottage"
video about the restoration of the cottage featuring Beverley Randell and her daughter Susan Price
"A tour around Randell Cottage, Thorndon, Wellington"
video tour by Michalia Arathimos during her residency {{Authority control New Zealand literary awards 2002 establishments in New Zealand Awards established in 2002 France–New Zealand relations Artist residencies