Ben Brown awarded writer’s residency

Lyttelton author Ben Brown (pictured) has been awarded the Maori Writer’s Residency at the Michael King Writers’ Centre for 2011.

Ben Brown is known for his children’s books, non-fiction and for his short stories. Since 1992 he has collaborated with his wife, illustrator Helen Taylor, on numerous publications. They won Best Picture Book at the 2006 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.

Brown has been selected for the residency to work on a collection of poetry and short poetic-prose pieces that explore the concept of mana. The project is called Between the Kindling and the Blaze. Later he plans to develop the book into a performance piece incorporating multimedia elements, including spoken work, visual imagery and live music.

Born in Motueka, Brown has affiliations with the Waikato-Tainui (Ngati Paoa and Ngati Mahuta).

This is the second year the Michael King Writer’s Centre has been able to offer a residency especially to a Maori writer, thanks to the support of Te Waka Toi, the Maori Arts Board of Creative New Zealand.

The residency, for eight weeks from mid-May, is one of a programme of four supported residencies that the centre has in place for 2011. Brown will receive a stipend of $8,000 together with free accommodation and working space at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in Devonport.

The centre aims to support New Zealand writers and promote New Zealand literature by providing opportunities for authors to work full-time on a major project. In addition to the supported residencies, the centre has low-cost accommodation for visiting writers.