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 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 third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

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

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of Archaeology of New Zealand, ancest ...

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. 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 Midland ...

, 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 fa ...

, 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 Katherine ...

, which provides a residency based in France for New Zealand writers. The trust is supported by

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government established in 1963. It invests in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes a ...

, the New Zealand–France Friendship Fund and the

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the city of Wellington, the country's capital city and List of cities in New Zealand#City councils, third-largest city by popul ...

. Founding trustees included

Fiona Kidman Dame Fiona Judith Kidman ( Eakin; born 26 March 1940) is a New Zealand novelist, poet, scriptwriter and short story writer. She grew up in Northland, and worked as a librarian and a freelance journalist early in her career. She began writing ...

and Vincent O'Sullivan.

Kirsty Gunn Kirsty Gunn (born 1960, New Zealand) is a novelist, essayist, short story writer, and professor of creative writing. She has won the Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year award, the New Zealand Post Book Awards Book of the Year award, and the ...

, 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

) 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. Usually known as Te Papa (Māori language, Māori for 'Waka huia, the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the Nation ...

Writers-in-residence

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

Nadine Ribault Nadine Nicole Claire Ribault (; 20 January 1964 – 15 January 2021) was a French novelist, short story writer and translator. Life and career Ribault was born in Paris on 20 January 1964. She graduated from La Sorbonne with a bachelor's degre ...

, - , 2003 , , Tim Corballis , , Charles Juliet , - , 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 feminine given name and surname. Renée is the female form of René, with the extra "e" making it feminine according to French grammar. The name Renée is the French for ...

, , Dominique Mainard , - , 2006 , , Beryl Fletcher , , Annie Saumont , - , 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 he ...

, , , - , 2009 , ,

, , Fariba Hachtroudi , - , 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 cars. The company remanufact ...

, , 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, Māori people were ignored or mischaracteri ...

Owen Marshall Owen Marshall Jones (born 17 August 1941), who writes under the pen name Owen Marshall, is a New Zealand short story writer and novelist. Early life and family Marshall was born in Te Kūiti on 17 August 1941. He was the third of nine children ...

, , , - , 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. Biography Daisley was born in Hastings, New Zealand, and spent five years in the New Zealand army before working as a sheep herder, bush cutter, truck driver, construction worker and bar ...

, , Josef Schovanec , - , 2018 , , James Norcliffe , , , - , 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 ...

, , Karin Serres , - , 2020 , , Michalia Arathimos , , Amaury da Cunha , - , 2021 , , Lynn Davidson , , , - , 2022 , , Rose Lu , , Caroline Laurent , - , 2023, , Rachel O'Neill, ,

Sedef Ecer Sedef Ecer (born 1965) is a Turkish-French playwright, novelist, actress and screenwriter. She began her career as a child film actress in Turkey, and later moved to France. She has written a number of plays in both Turkish and French, which hav ...

, - , 2024 , Hinemoana Baker , Julien Blanc-Gras , - , 2025 , ,

Saraid de Silva Saraid de Silva is a Sri Lankan writer, podcaster and creative from New Zealand. Her work pulls from her diasporic experiences as a third culture child as well as a queer woman of colour. Life & career de Silva was born in Hamilton in 1 ...

, , Titaua Peu

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 Writers' centres and houses