Hagley Writers' Institute

Congratulations to graduate Chris Stewart!

His poetry has been selected for AUP new poets 6, alongside Ben Kemp and Vanessa Crofskey.

Edited by Anna Jackson, the collection will be published in March by Auckland University Press.

To date, Chris’s other work has appeared in local journals including takahÄ“, Brief, Sweet Mammalian, Snorkel, Mimicry, Blackmail Press, Aotearotica, and Catalyst, as well as internationally.

Watch his innovative video poem Rain, which was previously featured as Vallum’s Poem of the Week.

We are thrilled that Chris is also going to be a mentor for 2020 students.

Hagley tutor Frankie McMillan’s latest book of flash fiction has been named in The Spinoff’s top 10 fiction titles of 2019 – very well deserved. I expect more accolades for this book.

Congratulations to graduates from 2018 who have had work published this year:

Kaye Gillhooley’s fiction was published in takahÄ“ 95, and twice in X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine, with her story Trout nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Scholastic is issuing a second print run of Desna Wallace’s children’s novel, Canterbury Quake, due out in February 2020.

Toni Wi’s fiction was published in takahÄ“ 96, the Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy: Volume I, and her flash fiction Dunedin was long listed for National Flash Fiction Day 2019.

Three of Shannon Beynon’s flash fictions were published in takahÄ“ 96.

Sandra Hamilton’s flash fiction appeared in the April 2019: Love edition of Flash Frontier.

We are delighted to announce that Zoë Meager will be tutoring in 2020. She joins Frankie McMillan and is a highly qualified and experienced writer and teacher. Zoë is from ÅŒtautahi and has a Master of Creative Writing from the University of Auckland. Her short stories have been commended at home and abroad, including winning the Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize, Pacific Region, 2013, with her story Things with Faces, which was published in Granta. Her work has appeared in Hue and Cry, Landfall, North & South, Overland, and Turbine | Kapohau, among others, and been anthologised in Bonsai: Best small stories from Aotearoa New Zealand, and two Bath Flash Fiction volumes. She is fiction editor for takahÄ“ and an Editorial Assistant (Fiction) for Overland. There’s more at zoemeager.com.

We were pleased to celebrate another successful year for our 2019 students. The Margaret Mahy Award was given to Francesca Aitken, runner up was Kirstie Mchale who also won the takehe Award for the best short story and Megan O’Neill was highly commended.

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.