The deadline looms for the 2021 Surrey Hotel-Newsroom writers residency.
Calling all authors, but only good ones. There are five days remaining to apply for the 2021 Surrey Hotel-Newsroom writer's residency award which provides $5000 and free accommodation in a heavily atmospheric Auckland hotel.
The deadline is Friday, July 9, at lockdown hours – 11:59pm. Already about 50 writers, dreamers and schemers have applied. Essayists, novelists, poets, genre writers, short story writers...Established authors, the old, the young, urban reptiles, provincial hicks, complete nobodies...All kinds of writers have entered, but there is a startling absence of writers who work in disciplined fields such as history, biography, and cultural study. One well-known non-fiction author has applied. They have a serious project in mind. That person will almost definitely make the shortlist.
The award is set up for someone to work hard on a book-length project. The winner receives $4000, and a week's accommodation with breakfast and a Sunday roast at the extraordinary Surrey Hotel, a mock Tudor masterpiece in Grey Lynn. They can do what they want with the $4000 - drug use is certainly acceptable, the universe is amoral - but it'd be nice if they set it aside to take further time off from work or family or whatever distraction to continue work on their masterpiece.
Second and third place get $500 each, as well as four and three nights accommodation at ye olde Surrey.
It's the coolest writer's residency award in New Zealand letters and is now in its sixth year. It came about after I booked myself into the Surrey to write a portion of my true-crime collection The Scene of the Crime. I loved the experience, and really valued the privacy and considerable charm of the Surrey, and thought: it'd be nice to offer it as a residency to other writers. Surrey management have been generous in their support and this year the award comes with money, thanks to Dick Frizzell and Sir Bob Harvey, who are making $5000 available from the goodness of their hearts.
So. The deadline is looming. All are welcome – sort of. This is for authors only; no screenplay writers, playwrights, or whatever online thing. It's all about a book.
Email me at stephen11@xtra.co.nz with the subject line in screaming caps THE SURREY HOTEL RESIDENCY IN ASSOCIATION WITH NEWSROOM. Send in a brief covering letter outlining the project you have in mind, and it wouldn’t hurt to maybe attach a few pages of the work in progress. A panel of judges will brood upon the entries and draw up a shortlist of 10. The three winners will most likely be announced, as per, by good old Jesse Mulligan on his afternoon show at RNZ.
Previous winners include Mia Gaudin, Ashleigh Young, Megan Dunn, John Summers, Shilo Kino, and Kelly Dennett. First place winner in 2019 was Colleen Maria Lenihan. I asked her to write a few words about the residency.
Colleen Maria Lenihan: In 2019, my friend the novelist Amy McDaid posted a tweet about Surrey Hotel-Newsroom writer's residency on the last day of the deadline. I submitted a couple of my weird short stories but didn't expect to get anywhere. But then Steve Braunias tweeted that my last minute entry was “dazzling,” and Amy said, with only the faintest hint of annoyance, “I bet you’ve won. If you do, you owe me a pizza.”
I owe her a pizza. Days later, I was stunned to hear Jesse Mulligan say my name when the award was announced live on Radio New Zealand.
I loved my time at the Surrey. I’d fill up at the breakfast buffet, then spend hours writing a strange short story written from the POV of multiple animal narrators, a murder of crows in Tokyo. My digs were a comfortable mini apartment with a sunny backyard, the mock Tudor decor a surreal backdrop for selfies. Later I’d unwind in the spa pool and have a glass of wine in the bar with friends. I enjoyed it so much I seriously looked into moving into The Heritage in the city, to join that dreamy literary tradition of writers holing up in hotel rooms, but couldn’t bring myself to rehome my dog.
The residency is a wonderful experience for writers. I’m very grateful for the opportunity. It was a much needed confidence boost. For those brave and reckless enough to face the void of the blank page and put their innermost thoughts out into the world, the rewards are often few and far between, and should be celebrated.
My collection of short stories, Girl, will be released by Huia Publishers in April 2022.
