Ursula Bethell Residency in Creative Writing
Supported by funding from Creative New Zealand
About Ursula Bethell
Ursula Mary Bethell (1874–1945) was a Surrey-born, Christchurch-based poet and artist. Ursula spent many of her days travelling between the two locations before settling down in Rise Cottage on the Cashmere Hills. Bethell's early works were published under the pseudonym Evelyn Hayes. The first of Bethell's collections, From a Garden in the Antipodes , is her best-known work, but Time and Place (Caxton, 1936) was her most valued: a compilation of poetry in memory of Bethell's close friend Effie Pollen. Ursula Bethell, recognised as one of the pioneers of modern New Zealand poetry, passed away in Christchurch on the 15th January 1945 at age 71.
History of the Residency
The Ursula Bethell Residency in Creative Writing, jointly funded by the University of Canterbury Faculty of Arts and Creative New Zealand, was established by the University of Canterbury in 1979 to provide support for New Zealand writers and foster New Zealand writing. The Residency allows authors of proven merit in all areas of literary and creative activity an opportunity to work on an approved project within an academic environment. Since its inception the University has been home to 40 fiction-writers, poets and dramatists, a number of whom have made a valuable contribution to the development of young writers studying at the University. We have also had the opportunity to celebrate the successes of our Residents throughout the years, one of the most memorable being Keri Hulme's Booker Prize in 1985.
Current Writers in Residence
Octavia Cade is the current 2023 Writer in Residence.
Octavia Cade is a speculative fiction writer and science communicator. She's the author of around seventy short stories that have been published in a variety of markets, as well as a handful of longer works and two poetry collections. Octavia particularly enjoys using science fiction to talk about the environment; her two most recent books - the novel The Stone Wētā (2020) and the novella The Impossible Resurrection of Grief (2021) - were both climate fiction. Much of her academic also work discusses the way that science and the environment is presented in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. Speculative fiction has a particular capacity for social commentary and political critique, while still prioritising a sense of wonder and exploration, and this gives considerable creative freedom when it comes to writing about contemporary environmental issues. During her residency, Octavia is working on a series of creative nonfiction essays, called Milk Teeth, which look at New Zealand ecology through a post-apocalyptic and alternate universe lens, and which re-imagines a world where some of our lost native species escaped extinction.
Postal address for the Ursula Bethell Writers in residence:
English Programme
School of Humanities
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch, New Zealand
Former Writers in Residence:
David Coventry (2022)
Tina Makereti (2022)
Vana Manasiadis (2021)
Behrouz Boochani (2021)
Nathan Joe (2020)
Amy Head (2020)
Alison Glenny (2019)
Lawrence Patchett (2019
Albert Belz (2018)
Lynley Edmeades (2018)
Karen Healey (2017)
John Newton (2017)
David Howard (2016)
Philip Braithwaite (2016)
Nick Gibb (2015)
Coral Atkinson (2015)
Vivienne Plumb (2014)
Frankie McMillan (2014)
John Pule (2013)
Geoff Chapple(2013)
Helen Lowe (2012)
David Eggleton (2012)
Eleanor Catton (2011)
Graeme Tetley (2011)
Tusiata Avia (2010)
Victor Rodger (2009)
Rachael King (2008)
Philip Norman (2007)
Carl Nixon (2006)
Charlotte Randall (2005)
Graham Lindsay (2004)
Catherine Chidgey(2003)
Gavin Bishop (2003)
Apirana Taylor (2002)
James Brown (2001)
Stuart Hoar (2000)
Norman Bilbrough (1999)
Alan Brunton (1998)
Brian Turner (1997)
Hone Kouka (1996)
Michelanne Forster (1995)
Kate Flannery (1994)
Sue McCauley (1993)
Fiona Farrell (1992)
Bernadette Hall (1991)
Mervyn Thompson (1990)
Kim Eggleston (1989)
Gary Langford (1989)
Brian McNeill (1988)
Mike Johnson (1987)
Kevin Ireland (1986)
Rachel McAlpine (1986)
Graham Billing (1985)
Keri Hulme (1985)
Margaret Mahy (1984)
Murray Edmond (1983)
Barry Mitcalfe (1982)
Owen Marshall (1981)
Jennifer Compton (1980)
Michael Morrissey (1979)