Our Members

Members of the ANZL are active practitioners: they are accomplished writers of poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction for adults. Some write in all three genres; some have additional publications – in history, say, or children’s literature – and some have also written for the screen or stage. But the writers here have been invited to join the ANZL because they’ve published at least two full-length books in one of our core genres, the most recent book within the last ten years.

To locate a Member’s bio page, you can search by genre, by letter of the alphabet, or by surname. You’ll also find links to bio pages in our features, in which many of our writers are interviewed or cited.

Search for our members by genre

Click on the relevant box for a listing of writers in each genre. Note: some writers will appear in two or more.

Search for our members by name

Click on a letter for a list, or scroll through the master list below to find the writer you’re looking for.

News

Lauris Edmond Memorial Award for Poetry – winner announced

Dunedin poet, editor of Landfall, and ANZL member Emma Neale is the 2020 recipient of the Lauris Edmond Memorial Award for Poetry, a prize given biennially in recognition of a distinguished contribution to New Zealand poetry. Established in 2002, the Award is named after New Zealand writer Lauris Edmond who published many volumes of poetry, a novel, a number of plays and an autobiography. Her Selected Poems (1984) won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize.

The 2020 award was announced on 2 April the date of Lauris Edmond’s birthday. A ceremony and birthday celebration was due to take place at National Library of New Zealand in Wellington on 3 April to honour Emma, however due to COVID-19 the event is postponed and will take place in collaboration with Verb Wellington later in the year.

Congratulations Emma!
North & South Short Short Story competition is open

The North & South Short, Short Story competition is back – a bit later than usual, but as cool and competitive as ever! Stories must be 300 words or fewer. There are no boundaries as to themes, structure or narrative styles. Deadline 11 May, with the winners’ stories published in North & South. First prize $400 and $150 for two runners-up. Read here for more details and to enter.
Calling all short story writers in lockdown: Sargeson Prize open

New Zealand’s richest short story competition, the Sargeson Prize, is open for entries. Sponsored by the University of Waikato, the 2020 competition will be judged by celebrated master of the form Owen Marshall. The Sargeson Prize, which was launched by the University last year, offers the overall winner a $5,000 cash prize and includes two divisions: Open and Secondary Schools.

Eminent New Zealand writer Catherine Chidgey, who is a lecturer in Writing Studies at the University, initiated and judged last year’s inaugural competition that attracted more than 800 entries.“We’re excited to open up this competition for the second year, and it comes at an opportune moment, when many people will be looking to distract themselves from the COVID-19 lockdown. What better way to get through the next few weeks than to create an outstanding short story?” says Chidgey.

Entries open for the Sargeson Prize on 1 April 2020 and close at 11:59pm (NZST) on 30 June 2020. There is no entry fee, and entries are limited to one per writer, per division. Full entry details and conditions can be found on the University of Waikato website here.
Ashton Wylie Award – deadline soon

NZ writers in lock-down, do you have a completed written work with a holistic and spiritual view of the universe? You have until 5pm 31st March 2020 (this Tuesday) to submit your book or manuscript to the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literature Awards. There are $20,000 in prizes. Open to all unpublished manuscripts and books published between 1st April 2019 and 31 March 2020. For more information, and to apply, see here.
National Lobby: compensation for writers’ incomes – please help

Writers’ incomes are being impacted by cancellation of events due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Lost income streams from events include: teaching creative writing courses and workshops, launches and event sales, cancelled Writers Festival appearances (NZ and international), other events such as Arts Festivals, readings, lectures, workshops and school visits through Storylines and Writers in Schools programmes.

NZSA, CLNZ (Copyright Licensing NZ), PANZ (Publishers Association of NZ) and the Coalition for Books are collecting urgent information to assist with our lobbying to the government for lost income for writers. If you are able to quantify lost income from cancelled events it will be invaluable. Information will be collated from the responses received, and no individuals names will be made public.

This survey form is open now and will stay open until March 27, 5pm
NZSA National Writers Forum Postponed

NZSA is sad to advise that the 2020 NZSA National Writers Forum is postponed until 2021 due to the disruption caused by the Covid-19 virus. NZSA will be developing a series of digital resources and on-line courses that can be accessed and shared with its members or member hubs.
Auckland Writers Festival 2020 Cancelled

Auckland Writers Festival regrets to advise the cancellation of its May 2020 festival, owing to the critical Covid-19 situation and the Government’s new limits on mass public gatherings. All purchased tickets will be fully refunded via Ticketmaster. The next festival will be held in 2021. See here for full announcement.

More news

'Many of our best stories profit from a meeting of New Zealand and overseas influences' - Owen Marshall

Academy of New Zealand Literature

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