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
Our 2026 residents were Majella Cullinane and Amy Head. They were each here for six weeks during the winter. We're deeply saddened that Majella died, barely two months after her residency, finally succumbing to the cancer with which she had been living for the last few years.
Majella Cullinane
Majella Cullinane wrote poetry, fiction, and essays. Originally from Ireland,
she had 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.
Since 2023, Majella had been writing a memoir Shadows Fall Behind, comprising
essays and poetry, and reflecting 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.
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 made good progress
on this during her residency and enjoyed 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.
