Randell Cottage Writers Fellowship

Since its foundation in 2001, the Randell Cottage Writers Fellowship has offered six months of rent-free accommodation each year to mid-career New Zealand writers.  They stay in a restored heritage Cottage in Thorndon, Wellington, with a stipend to cover their living costs.  Devastatingly, Creative New Zealand has pulled its grant for the Fellowship stipend as of 2025, citing limited funding availability.  

This means the Trust is urgently seeking donations to allow this year’s selected resident, Saraid de Silva - and her successors - to continue to take up the residency.  Saraid is due to begin her stay In July, so we need help very quickly!

Saraid was chosen for 2025 from a highly competitive group of applicants, based on her track record and the potential of the writing project she submitted. The selection committee’s judgment has been borne out by the recent inclusion of Saraid’s novel Amma in the longlist for the Jann Medlicott Acorn award for literature in the 2025 Ockham Awards and sensationally in the UK Women’s Prize for Fiction.

With your help, we can enable Saraid to fulfil her creative potential, while we work to preserve the Randell Cottage residency and its contribution to the NZ arts and cultural landscape.