Hagley Writers' Institute

Hagley Writers’ Institute was part of the recent WORD Festival pop-up readings in New Regent St. It was a lively and busy event and thanks to our readers, Zoe Meager, Gail Ingram, Sam Averis, Chris Stewart and Ronnie Smart for showcasing their talent. The crowd came and went and you can see the great Scottish crime writer, Denise Mina, on the left, just next to our reader, Chris Stewart.

 

Bonsai, a new collection of NZ short fiction edited by Michelle Elvy, Frankie McMillan and James Norcliffe was recently launched at Scorpio books and contains work by a large number of Hagley graduates, students, mentors and tutors – it’s a real tribute to the strength of the genre in Christchurch and the great teaching by our tutors at Hagley.

Frankie’s class at the end of a busy and stimulating programme. The classes now break while they work on their portfolios to be handed in by mid-October. It’s been a great year.

There is no mystery in who won the short short story competition –  Sue Kingham’s story won and the runners-up were Nod Ghosh and Zoe Meager – all Hagley writers. Congratulations to you all. Buy this Feb’s edition to read these remarkable stories.

We were delighted to see our patron and mentor, Bernadette Hall named as a Member of the NZ Order of Merit in this year’s New Year’s Honours list for her contribution to NZ literature. We know, from our experience with having her so involved in the Institute how much time and wisdom she has given to our students and how revered her writing is amongst the literary community.

Congratulation to tutor, Frankie Mcmillan for being named in the long list for this year’s Ockham Book Awards,
Her book, My Mother and the Hungarians,
has had glowing reviews and even, resulted in her being invited to Hungary to take part in the anniversary of the 1957 uprising.

Classes have begun for 2017 and this term we welcome back our longtime patron, tutor and mentor Bernadette Hall who is filling in for Frankie Macmillan. Frankie is spending 6 months in Auckland at the Michael King Centre doing what she loves best, writing. It is wonderful to have Bernie back with us – she is a wise and wonderfully experienced teacher. We are also fortunate to have Christina Stachurski back as our other tutor, another inspired teacher.