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 New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

's foremost

literary awards A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Ma ...

. Named after

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebra ...

, one of New Zealand's leading historical writers, the award gives winners ("fellows", whether male or female) funding towards transport to and accommodation in

Menton, France Menton (; , written ''Menton'' in classical norm or ''Mentan'' in Mistralian norm; it, Mentone ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border. Me ...

, where Mansfield did some of her best-known and most significant writing.

Overview

The fellowship is awarded to New Zealand citizens and residents whose fiction, poetry, literary non-fiction, children’s fiction or playwriting has had "favourable impact". Unlike the

Ockham New Zealand Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder W ...

, which are the best-known New Zealand literary awards, the fellowship is awarded to an individual to develop their future work, rather than for a specific already-published work. In addition to funding towards transport and accommodation, fellows are given access to a room beneath the terrace of the Villa Isola Bella for use as a study. Mansfield spent long periods at the Villa Isola Bella in 1919 and 1920 after she contracted tuberculosis, and did some of her most significant work there. The climate in southern France was thought to be beneficial to her health. The fellowship is managed by the

Arts Foundation of New Zealand 'The Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi is a New Zealand arts organisation that supports artistic excellence and facilitates private philanthropy through raising funds for the arts and allocating it to New Zealand artists. The concept ...

with the support of an advisory committee that includes members of the Winn-Manson Menton Trust.

History

The fellowship was conceived in the late 1960s by New Zealand writer

Celia Manson Cecilia Evelyn Manson (; 24 August 1908 – 28 October 1987), known as Celia Manson, was a New Zealand writer, journalist and broadcaster. Many of her works were co-written with her husband Cecil Manson, and together they also laid the founda ...

and arts patron

Sheilah Winn Sheilah Maureen Winn (; 10 June 1917 – 27 June 2001) was a New Zealand arts patron and philanthropist. Having received a large inheritance, she used her money to support her love of the arts and particularly the theatre. Notably, she was th ...

. Manson and her husband had visited the Villa Isola Bella where Mansfield did some of her most significant writing (including the short stories "

The Daughters of the Late Colonel "The Daughters of the Late Colonel" is a 1920 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in the '' London Mercury'' in May 1921, and later reprinted in '' The Garden Party and Other Stories''.Katherine Mansfield, ''Selected Stories' ...

", " The Stranger" and "

Life of Ma Parker "Life of Ma Parker" is a 1921 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in '' The Nation and Atheneum'' on 26 February 1921, and later reprinted in '' The Garden Party and Other Stories''.Katherine Mansfield, ''Selected Stories'', O ...

"), and discovered that a room on the lower level where she worked was derelict and not in use. Manson and Winn decided to set up a fellowship for New Zealand authors, and formed a committee in Wellington to raise funds. Their vision was "to give a selected New Zealand writer a period of leisure to write or study ... na different and more ancient culture, and thereby to see

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

own remote country in a better perspective". Initially the fellowship was administered by the

New Zealand Women Writers' Society The New Zealand Women Writers' Society (NZWWS), originally named the New Zealand Women Writers' and Artists' Society, was founded on 11 July 1932 in Wellington. Until its dissolution in July 1991, the NZWWS supported and encouraged women writer ...

. Subsequently, the Winn-Mason Menton Trust was established to run the fellowship, and the first recipient was poet Owen Leeming in 1970. The fellowship was first sponsored by

Meridian Energy Meridian Energy Limited is a New Zealand electricity generator and retailer. The company generates the largest proportion of New Zealand's electricity, generating 35 percent of the country's electricity in the year ending December 2014, and is ...

, and from 2007 to 2011 by the

New Zealand Post NZ Post ( mi, Tukurau Aotearoa), shortened from New Zealand Post, is a state-owned enterprise responsible for providing postal service in New Zealand. The New Zealand Post Office, a government agency, provided postal, banking, and telecommunica ...

. From 2012 to 2014,

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, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets ...

contributed a yearly grant. Over the years the fellowship also received funding from both the French and New Zealand governments. The Katherine Mansfield Room at the Villa Isola Bella was furnished by the City of Menton for the fellows' use. In 2015, a fundraising campaign overseen by the Winn-Mason Menton Trust and a volunteer campaign committee raised NZ$730,000 to ensure the fellowship's long-term survival and that it would no longer be dependent on sponsorship. The fellowship has been awarded to a number of well-known New Zealand authors. In 2000, the

Victoria University Press Te Herenga Waka University Press or THWUP (formerly Victoria University Press) is the book publishing arm of Victoria University of Wellington, located in Wellington, New Zealand. As of 2022, the press had published around 800 books. History Vi ...

published ''As Fair as New Zealand to Me'', a collection of the memories of twenty-three fellows, written in the form of letters to Mansfield.

Janet Frame Janet Paterson Frame (28 August 1924 – 29 January 2004) was a New Zealand author. She was internationally renowned for her work, which included novels, short stories, poetry, juvenile fiction, and an autobiography, and received numerous awar ...

set her novel, ''In the Memorial Room'', in Menton, telling the fictional story of a writer on a poetry fellowship. Although she wrote the novel in the 1970s it was not published until after her death in 2013. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the 2020 fellow,

Sue Wootton Sue Wootton (born 1961) is a New Zealand writer, specialising in poetry and short fiction. Biography Wootton was born in Wellington in 1961, and spent much of her early life in Wanganui before moving to Dunedin, where she attended the University ...

, was unable to travel to Menton to take up the fellowship in either 2020 or 2021.

Recipients

The writers to have held the fellowship are listed below: * 1970 Owen Leeming * 1971 Margaret Scott * 1972

C K Stead Christian Karlson "Karl" Stead (born 17 October 1932) is a New Zealand writer whose works include novels, poetry, short stories, and literary criticism. He is one of New Zealand's most well-known and internationally celebrated writers. Early l ...

* 1973

James McNeish Sir James Henry Peter McNeish (23 October 1931 – 11 November 2016) was a New Zealand novelist, playwright and biographer. Biography McNeish attended Auckland Grammar School and graduated from Auckland University College with a degree in lan ...

* 1974

* 1975 David Mitchell * 1976 Michael King * 1977

Barry Mitcalfe Barry Mitcalfe (31 March 1930 – 1986) was a New Zealand poet, editor, and peace activist. Born in 1930 in Wellington, New Zealand, Mitcalfe studied at Victoria University of Wellington, where he received a Diploma in Education in 1962, and a Ba ...

* 1978

Spiro Zavos Spiro Bernard Zavos (born 1937 in Wellington of Greek immigrant parents) is a New Zealand historian, philosopher, journalist and writer. Life and career After gaining a Bachelor of Arts from the Victoria University of Wellington, Zavos taught h ...

* 1979

Philip Temple Robert Philip Temple (born 1939 in Yorkshire, England) is a Dunedin-based New Zealand author of novels, children's stories, and non-fiction. His work is characterised by a strong association with the outdoors and New Zealand ecology. Career ...

* 1980

Marilyn Duckworth Marilyn Duckworth (born 10 November 1935) is a New Zealand novelist, poet and short story writer. She has published 16 novels, one novella, a collection of short stories and a collection of poetry. She has also written for television and radio ...

* 1981

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 fam ...

* 1982

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

* 1983

Allen Curnow Thomas Allen Monro Curnow (17 June 1911 – 23 September 2001) was a New Zealand poet and journalist. Life Curnow was born in Timaru, New Zealand, the son of a fourth generation New Zealander, an Anglican clergyman, and he grew up in a relig ...

* 1984

Rowley Habib Rowley Habib (24 April 1933 – 3 April 2016), also known as Rore Hapipi, was a New Zealand poet, playwright, and writer of short stories and television scripts. Biography Of Lebanese and Māori descent, Habib identified with the Ngāti Tūw ...

* 1985

Michael Gifkins Michael Gifkins (1945 – 29 July 2014) was a New Zealand literary agent, short story writer, critic, publisher and editor. Having written three collections of short stories himself in the 1980s, Gifkins later represented a number of leading N ...

* 1986

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 ...

* 1987

Russell Haley Russell Haley (1934 – 4 July 2016) was a New Zealand poet, short story writer and novelist. Born in Yorkshire, he and his wife emigrated to Australia in 1961 and then to New Zealand in 1966, where he lived the rest of his life. He began publish ...

* 1988 Louis Johnson * 1989

Lloyd Jones Lloyd Jones or Lloyd-Jones may refer to: People Sports * Lloyd Jones (athlete) (1884–1971), American athlete in the 1908 Summer Olympics *Lloyd Jones (figure skater) (born 1988), Welsh ice dancer *Lloyd Jones (English footballer) (born 1995), En ...

* 1990 Lisa Greenwood * 1991 Nigel Cox * 1992

Maurice Gee Maurice Gough Gee (born 22 August 1931) is a New Zealand novelist. He is one of New Zealand's most distinguished and prolific authors, having written over thirty novels for adults and children, and has won numerous awards both in New Zealand an ...

* 1993

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 ...

* 1994 Vincent O’Sullivan * 1995

Fiona Farrell Fiona Farrell (born 1947) is a New Zealand poet, fiction and non-fiction writer and playwright. Early years and education Fiona Farrell was born and raised in Oamaru, in the South Island of New Zealand. She attended Waitaki Girls' High Sc ...

* 1996

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 ...

* 1997 Roger Hall * 1998

Maurice Shadbolt Maurice Francis Richard Shadbolt (4 June 1932 – 10 October 2004) was a New Zealand writerRobinson and Wattie 1998 and occasional playwright. Biography Shadbolt was born in Auckland, and was the eldest of three children. He had a younger bro ...

* 1999

Elizabeth Knox Elizabeth Fiona Knox (born 15 February 1959) is a New Zealand writer. She has authored several novels for both adults and teenagers, autobiographical novellas, and a collection of essays. One of her best-known works is ''The Vintner's Luck'' ( ...

* 2000 Stephanie Johnson * 2001 Catherine Chidgey * 2002

Jenny Bornholdt Jennifer Mary Bornholdt (born 1 November 1960) is a New Zealand poet and anthologist. Biography Born in Lower Hutt, Bornholdt received a bachelor's degree in English Literature and a Diploma in Journalism. She studied poetry with Bill Manhire ...

* 2003

Tessa Duder Tessa Duder (née Staveley, born 13 November 1940) is a New Zealand author of novels for young people, short stories, plays and non-fiction, and a former swimmer who won a silver medal for her country at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth ...

* 2004

Bill Manhire William Manhire (born 27 December 1946) is a New Zealand poet, short story writer, emeritus professor, and New Zealand's inaugural New Zealand Poet Laureate, Poet Laureate (1997–1998). He founded New Zealand's first creative writing course at ...

* 2005

Ian Wedde Ian Curtis Wedde (born 17 October 1946) is a New Zealand poet, fiction writer, critic, and art curator. Biography Born in Blenheim, New Zealand, Wedde lived in East Pakistan and England as a child before returning to New Zealand. He attended ...

* 2006

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 ...

* 2007 Stuart Hoar * 2008 Damien Wilkins * 2009 Jenny Pattrick * 2010

Ken Duncum Ken Duncum is a New Zealand playwright and screenwriter. His plays ''Cherish'' and ''Trick of the Light'' won best new New Zealand play at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards in 2003 and 2004. His script for television drama series ''Cover Story'' ...

* 2011 Chris Price * 2012

Justin Paton Justin Paton (born 1972) is a New Zealand writer, art critic and curator, currently based in Sydney, Australia. His book ''How to Look at a Painting'' (2005) was adapted into a 12-episode television series by TVNZ in 2011. Education Paton stu ...

* 2013

Greg McGee Greg McGee is a New Zealand writer and playwright, who also writes crime fiction under the pseudonym Alix Bosco. Biography McGee was born in 1950 in the South Island town of Oamaru. In his early 20s McGee played rugby as a Junior All Black and b ...

* 2014

Mandy Hager Mandy or Mandie may refer to: People * Mandy (name), a female given name and nickname * Iván Mándy (1918-1995), Hungarian writer * Mark Mandy (born 1972), Irish retired high jumper * Philip Mandie (born 1942), a former judge on the Supreme Cou ...

* 2015

Anna Jackson Anna Jackson (born 1967) is a New Zealand poet, fiction and non-fiction writer and an academic. Biography Jackson grew up in Auckland and now lives in Wellington. She has an MA from the University of Auckland and a DPhil from Oxford University ...

* 2016

Kate Camp Kate Camp (born 1972) is a New Zealand poet and author who currently resides in Wellington. Early life and education Camp was born in 1972 in Wellington, New Zealand. She has a BA in English from the Victoria University of Wellington. Career ...

* 2017

Carl Nixon Carl Nixon (born 1967) is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer and playwright. He has written four novels and a number of original plays which have been performed throughout New Zealand, as well as adapting both Lloyd Jones' novel ''The ...

* 2019

Paula Morris Paula Jane Kiri Morris (born 18 August 1965) is a New Zealand novelist, short-story writer editor and literary academic. She is an associate professor at the University of Auckland and founder of the Academy of New Zealand Literature. Life Mor ...

* 2020

External links

Official website

References

{{Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellows New Zealand literary awards 1970 establishments in New Zealand

Overview

History

Recipients

See also

External links

References