UC residency for Christchurch author

Award-winningChristchurch writer and poet Helen Lowe will have her own office at theUniversity of Canterbury for the next six months after being named one of twoUrsula Bethell Writers in Residence for 2012.

MsLowe writes fantasy/science fiction novels as well as poetry and short fiction.Her first book, Thornspell, was published in 2008 and won the ScienceFiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand’s Sir Julius Vogel Award forBest Novel: Young Adult in 2009.

Sheis currently working on a four book epic fantasy called The Wall of Nightseries. The first volume in the series, The Heir of Night, was publishedin 2010 and won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel in 2011. The Heirof Night is currently longlisted for the Gemmell Awards in theUnited Kingdom. Volume two in the series, The Gathering of the Lost, isdue to be published in April this year.

Aswell as writing, Ms Lowe also reviews books and interviews authors on PlainsFM’s Women on Air programme. 

Thesecond residency will be taken up in August by performance poet and writerDavid Eggleton.

TheUrsula Bethell Residency in Creative Writing was established by the Universityof Canterbury in 1979 to provide support for New Zealand writers and foster NewZealand writing. Jointly funded by the University’s College of Arts and CreativeNew Zealand, the residency gives writers a chance to work on a project withinan academic environment. It is named in recognition of Christchurch poet andartist Ursula Bethell (1874-1945) who is considered one of the pioneers ofmodern New Zealand poetry.

Previousrecipients of the residency include Owen Marshall (1981), Margaret Mahy (1984),Keri Hulme (1985), Fiona Farrell (1992), Sue McCauley (1993), Catherine Chidgey(2003), Charlotte Randall (2005), Carl Nixon (2006) and Rachael King (2008).