THE MIKE RIDDELL
Writer's Residency
The Mike Riddell Writer's Residency
The indefatigable Mike Riddell instigated the idea of administering a writer's residency in Ōtūrēhua. The idea was to offer a generously donated package of house and stipend to an experienced writer or writers over 12 winter weeks.
We hoped that they would find inspiration in this grand landscape as well as the support of a group of committed writers who have made this village their home.
Tragically, Mike died suddenly in March 2022, before the first residency took place. In his honour we named the Ōtūrēhua residency after him.
Each year, applications are invited from 1st February and close on 31st March.
Please watch this space for the 2027 Residency.
Applicants should be established writers, at least 35 years old, and resilient
enough to cope with an Ida Valley winter.
2026 Residency
We're delighted to announce our 2026 residents are Majella Cullinane and Amy Head. We look forward to seeing them for six weeks each during the winter months.
Majella Cullinane
Majella Cullinane writes poetry, fiction, and essays. Originally from Ireland,
she has lived in Aotearoa New Zealand since 2008, and Ōtepoti Dunedin
since 2014. Her second poetry collection Whisper of a Crow’s Wing, Otago University
Press and Salmon Poetry, Ireland, and her most recent, Meantime, Otago University
Press, were chosen as The New Zealand Listener’s Top Poetry Books in 2018 and
2024. She was Robert Burns Fellow at the University of Otago in 2014. Her debut
novel, The Life of De’Ath was shortlisted for the NZSA Heritage Fiction Prize,
the 2016 Dundee International Book Prize, and longlisted for the 2019 Ockham
New Zealand Book Awards. Her writing has won, been shortlisted or highly
commended in national and international competitions, and published in Greece,
Ireland, New Zealand, the UK, and the US. She has been awarded residencies
and fellowships in Ireland, New Zealand and Scotland. In 2020 she graduated with
a PhD in Creative Practice from the University of Otago and is an Associate of Otago
University's Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies. She lives with her family
in Kōpūtai, Port Chalmers.
PROJECT
Since 2023, Majella has been writing a memoir Shadows Fall Behind, which comprises
essays and poetry, and reflects on the emotional and physical challenges
of living with ovarian cancer in Aotearoa. It explores themes of mortality and resilience,
and the quest for meaning in the face of a life-altering illness. She's both thrilled
and greatly honoured to receive a 2026 Mike Riddell Writer's Residency, and is
really looking forward to working on her memoir, and also engaging with
Ōtūrehua's vibrant literary and artistic community and wintering in the stunning Māniatoto.
Amy Head
Amy Head is the author of the discontinuous novel Signs of Life, the novel Rotoroa,
and a collection of short stories, Tough, which won the Hubert Church Prize for Fiction.
She lives in Ōtautahi Christchurch.
Her project is a novel about a mobile cinema projectionist serving an isolated fictional
settlement in Te Tai Poutini, the west coast of the South Island. She’s looking forward
to making some good progress on this and being immersed in a beautiful,
challenging environment.
Author photo: Ebony Lamb
Previous Residents
2025: Peta Carey and Michelle Elvy
2024: Pat White and Paddy Richardson
2023: Lynn Davidson and Wayne Martin.
2022: Our inaugural residents were Tim Higham and Rhian Gallagher. Sadly, Tim was diagnosed
with motor neurone disease some months after his residency, and died in July 2025.
