The International Institute of Modern Letters: Creative Writing at Victoria University
- Contact the Institute
- Glenn Schaeffer Prize in Modern Letters
- Scholarship in Modern Letters
- Adam Prize in Creative Writing
- Story! Inc Prize
- The Maurice Gee Prize in Children's Writing
- The Prize in Original Composition
- MA in Creative Writing
- MA in Creative Scriptwriting
- Contemporary New Zealand Literature Archive
- National Schools' Writing Festival and Poetry Competition
- A Few Thoughts on Poems and Poetry from Brian Turner
Introduction
Victoria University is home to New Zealand's oldest and most prestigious creative writing programme. Writing classes were first taught here by Christine Cole Catley, Fiona Kidman and Michael King; then from 1975 a small undergraduate course was offered for degree credit under the direction of poet Bill Manhire.
"Attended Bill Manhire's creative writing course at Victoria University" has gained such strength as a brand that it can now be used to market books. Readers buy Manhire alumni books in the same confidence with which they would hire a Harvard law graduate or a philosopher from the Sorbonne.
- NZ Listener, 1999
Over the years this has grown into a range of genre workshops (poetry, short fiction, children’s writing, science fiction), and in 1997 New Zealand's first Master of Arts (MA) programme in creative writing began. Victoria’s MA programme now receives applications from all over the world. Remarkable talent is the single requirement for prospective students, as only ten writers are accepted in any one year. Victoria’s MA students have written award-winning theatre works, as well as book length works of fiction, poetry and memoir.
The Creative Writing Programme is now run under the auspices of the International Institute of Modern Letters, established in 2001.
The International Institute of Modern Letters
The International Institute of Modern Letters is an international centre focusing on contemporary imaginative writing. Victoria University was chosen to be its New Zealand headquarters and the Institute was inaugurated there in March 2001.
The International Institute of Modern Letters, Te Putahi Tuhi o te Ao, situated at Glenn Schaeffer House on Victoria University’s Kelburn Campus incorporates the University’s renowned Creative Writing Programme and its writer-in-residence programme.
The Institute, founded by American business leader and philanthropist Glenn Schaeffer, aims to encourage emerging writers and particularly what he calls "voices of postcolonial experience" in both America and New Zealand.
The Institute's US headquarters is at the University of Nevada (Las Vegas). There are also major partnership arrangements with the University of California at Irvine and the famed Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. Further working partnerships are planned with US institutions that significantly foster the literary imagination.
The Institute works closely with the internationally regarded creative writing programme headed at Victoria University by award-winning poet Professor Bill Manhire. Professor Manhire is co-director of the Institute and responsible for its New Zealand operations. In 2003 poet Chris Price was appointed to a halftime lectureship in creative writing at the IIML. Chris contributes to the teaching programme and also coordinates and developes the increasing range of outreach activities. Eric Olsen, former Michener Fellow and Executive Editor with Time/Life Inc, is the US -based co-director.
The Institute’s Advisory Board includes such leading writers as novelist Jane Smiley, Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, Pulitzer-winning biographer Scott Berg, and recent US Poet Laureate Mark Strand. New Zealand business leader and arts patron, Roderick Deane, is also a member of the Advisory Board.
The Institute's Chief Literary Officer is Wole Soyinka, Nigerian dramatist, poet, essayist and theatre director, and winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature. He is immediate past-president of the International Parliament of Writers, and holds a Chair in Creative Writing at the University of Nevada (Las Vegas) recently endowed by Glenn Schaeffer.
On the global stage the Institute’s mission is to act as a patron for international writers of courage and conscience, supporting initiatives such as the City of Asylum Programme.
It supports and develops writer and scholar exchanges between the USA and New Zealand. It also supports and initiates fellowships, public event programmes, and a range of publishing and research projects. It administers the Glenn Schaeffer Prize in Modern Letters, which is awarded biennially to an emerging New Zealand writer.
The Institute also intends to host a state-of-the-art Internet Laboratory, at Victoria with two chief aims: first, to enable Victoria's top creative writing students to workshop directly with their peers in the US; and second, "to promote scholarship in ‘digital narrative’, with a pedagogy for ‘mentorship’ in creative writing using the tools of new media."
Listener Best Young Novelists List 2003
We note with pleasure that six of the ten best New Zealand novelists under 40 - as nominated by the New Zealand Listener - are graduates of Victoria's creative writing programme. A seventh, Damien Wilkins,is a Senior Lecturer at the IIML. Congratulations to Catherine Chidgey, Kate Duignan, Damien Wilkins, Emma Neale, Tim Corballis, Emily Perkins, and Paula Morris.
Story! Inc Prize
Story! Inc has endowed a poetry prize to be awarded each year to the best poetry folio produced in the IIML's poetry workshops.
Story! Inc were the design company which developed the Wall of Words (composed of over 80 memorable quotations by and about New Zealanders) in the ground-floor lobby of the Royal SunAlliance Building in Auckland.
Part of the endowment comes from amalgamating the small individual royalties that might have been paid to copyright holders, who have generously agreed to waive their fees in favour of a collective donation to an appropriate charity.
The 2003 Story! Inc Prize for Poetry went to Michele Amas (http://www.storyinc.co.nz/)
The 2002 inaugural Story! Inc. Prize for Poetry was awarded to Frances Samuel.
The Maurice Gee Prize in Children's Writing We are delighted to announce a new prize for the best folio produced in the children's writing workshop taught at the IIML by Kate De Goldi.
The prize has been named to honour the distinguished contribution by Maurice Gee to children's literature in New Zealand. Maurice Gee is singular in New Zealand as the author of fiction of stature for both adults and young people. His classic titles Under the Mountain and The Fat Man are ground-breaking works in our children's writing. His writing for the young has embraced a number of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, and historical fiction, and has been central to the New Zealand child's reading life for two generations. We plan to create an endowment sum to fund this annual prize, and will be approaching possible subscribers early next year. The prize has already received very generous foundation donations from David Walsh of Scholastic Inc in the USA, and from New Zealand publishing guru Graham Beattie.
The 2003 Maurice Gee Prize for Children's Writing was awarded to Hannah McGregor.
The 2002 inaugural Maurice Gee Prize for Children's Writing was awarded to Ashleigh Young.
The Prize in Original Composition was awarded to Rhonda K. Grantham, a member of the 2002 Short Fiction Workshop.
In 2003 the prize, which is awarded to the best undergraduate prose folio, went to Abby Letteri, who also co-edited this year's issue of Turbine: http://www.vuw.ac.nz/turbine/
Scholarship in Modern Letters
The Scholarship in Modern Letters is Awarded annually to a member of the Creative Writing MA Programme. The scholarship of US$20,000 is funded by Glenn Schaeffer.
This scholarship offers an extraordinary opportunity for New Zealand writers. It provides the chance to work alongside some of the world's leading new talents.
The 2003 recipient was novelist, Tracey Hill.
For further information about the Iowa Writers Workshop visit:
Master of Arts in Creative Writing
The MA in Creative Writing is a full-time, full-year course, convened by Bill Manhire. This graduate degree course gives recognition to work in creative writing. Its aim is to develop the literary skills and imaginative capacity of talented new writers through a programme of workshops, folio supervision, and complementary reading.
The MA in Creative Writing is offered in two streams, Writing for the Page and Scriptwriting.
Applications for the MA are usually required by 1 November. For application forms and other information please contact:
The International Institute of Modern Letters Victoria University P O Box 600 Wellington New Zealand
Or email modernletters@vuw.ac.nz
Writing for the Page
The aim of the Writing for the Page stream of the MA is to develop the literary skills and imaginative capacity of talented new writers through a programme of workshops, portfolio supervision, and complementary reading. The course does not limit itself to a single literary genre (poets and fiction writers, and some kinds of non-fiction writers, too, work alongside one another). By the end of the year each student will submit, as a final portfolio, a booklength work of literature, of publishable standard.
This stream is limited to two groups of 10 students each. The quality of the writing sample which accompanies applications is critical in deciding admissions.
In general, fiction writers will meet in a ten-member workshop with Damien Wilkins while poets and non-fiction prose writers will meet in a ten-member workshop with Bill Manhire. There is no hard-and-fast rule about this, however; selections will be made on applicant potential, and groups may well be more mixed. The two workshop groups will meet jointly for special events.
The Adam Award, of about $1,000, is made annually to the best portfolio in the MA course. Previous winners have been Catherine Chidgey's In a Fishbone Church (1997), William Brandt's Alpha Male (1998), Tim Corballis' Below (2001), Cliff Fell for his book of poetry The Adulterer's Bible (2002), Josh Greenburg's The Game of Nods (2003) and Emily Dobson for A Box of Bees in 2004.
Master of Arts in Creative Scriptwriting
The Master of Arts in Creative Writing - Scriptwriting is offered as a separate stream within the Master of Arts in Creative Writing programme.
Each year ten students will be accepted into the scriptwriting course and each will produce a text for the screen, stage or radio. Students will also spend about 120 hours in industry placements.
The Michael Hirshfeld Director of Scriptwriting will lead the course. This part time sponsored position will allow the holder to continue to work in the industry.
The appeal for private funds to support the position of Michael Hirschfeld Director is being led by John Barnett of South Pacific Pictures. Donations to the fund may be made though the Victoria University Foundation.
A scriptwriting prize for the best student has also been established and runs in parallel with the Adam Foundation Prize in creative writing.
A number of Victoria University graduates have already succeeded in the world of scriptwriting including Fran Walsh, scriptwriter for the film epic Lord of the Rings. Walsh has worked with film director Peter Jackson on a number of films including Heavenly Creatures, nominated for a best-screenplay Oscar at the 1994 Academy Awards. Another Victoria graduate Jane Campion won a 1993 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Piano.
The Creative Writing programme at Victoria has already produced some of New Zealand's best scriptwriters including Duncan Sarkies (Scarfies, Saving Grace), Anthony McCarten (Ladies Night, Via Satellite), David Geary (Lovelock) and Ken Duncum (Blue Sky Boys).
Numerous graduates of Victoria's School of English, Film and Theatre have also produced or written works for stage and screen.
Michael Hirschfeld Director of Scriptwriting
Ken Duncum has been appointed to the position of Michael Hirschfeld Director of Scriptwriting.
Duncum was a member of Victoria's 1983 Original Composition Workshop: fellow participants included novelist Elizabeth Knox and poet Jenny Bornholdt.
Subsequently his career as a full-time writer for screen and stage includes the plays Flipside (Chapman Tripp Award for Production of the Year 2000), Waterloo Sunset and Blue Sky Boys (Best New Zealand Play 1990), as well as scripts for major television shows like Duggan and Coverstory.
His industry experience is wide-ranging: he was script editor for Greenstone, script adviser for Tiger Country, storyliner and writer for Mirror Mirror, and is currently head writer for Willy Nilly.
In September 2001 Duncum also received the Michael Hirschfeld Memorial Writing Award which marks 25 years of Circa Theatre.
Contact Details
The International Institute of Modern Letters Victoria University P O Box 600 Wellington New Zealand
Or email modernletters@vuw.ac.nz
Wesite: http://www.vuw.ac.nz/modernletters
Contemporary NZ Literature Archive
Treasure Trove of Contemporary NZ Literature Created A new research collection at Victoria University has archived the early student literary workings of a veritable ‘who’s who’ of contemporary New Zealand fiction.
Housed in the J C Beaglehole Room–the University Library’s archives and rare books facility– the newly compiled collection brings together work from Professor Bill Manhire's acclaimed Creative Writing Programme during its growth from a four-point ‘original composition’ paper to an MA programme.
The collection contains the stories, writing assignments and working papers of more than 200 students from 1977-1996, many of whom have gone on to become successful and significant players in the development and promotion of New Zealand writing. These writers include Elizabeth Knox, Catherine Chidgey, Ken Duncum, Anthony McCarten, Barbara Anderson, Chris Orsman, Kirsty Gunn, Kapka Kassabova, and James Brown and Emily Perkins.
The Creative Writing Programme archives join other significant collections at the J C Beaglehole Room: collections from Bruce Mason; from James K. Baxter’s biographer, Frank McKay; material from Wai-te-ata Press; and publication proofs from Victoria University Press. It also houses the New Zealand Literary Archive–annual accruals of writing from Patricia Grace, Witi Ihimaera, Jenny Bornholdt and Alistair te Ariki Campbell–an innovative resource begun with the generous sponsorship of the late Mike Robson through the VUW Foundation.
"The Creative Writing Course archives are a major addition to the Library’s literary and printing collections and locating them in the J C Beaglehole Room will ensure that these important literary records are preserved and made accessible to researchers" says Nicola Frean, Special Materials Librarian at Victoria University.
Nicola says that future users of the Creative Writing folios will include not only literary scholars interested in individual writers or in Creative Writing programmes, but also researchers of publishing and printing history and NZ literature in general.
The folios are accompanied by a taped interview with Professor Bill Manhire in which he reflects upon the development and content of the courses since 1974, and his own stance on writing and teaching. "Nowadays the course is enormously famous," says Bill Manhire. "It's even studied in literature courses at other New Zealand universities. So it was useful to be able to give some historical context for what is clearly going to become a major archive."
As with most research collections, you can’t just walk off the street and read these early works. Because the authors retain copyright, the records have stringent access conditions and no quotation or publication is allowed without their permission. Interested researchers should contact the J C Beaglehole Room librarian (ph 04 463 5681).
Contact: Nicola Frean, J C Beaglehole Room, Victoria University 04 463 5681; or Bill Manhire 04 463 6808. A list of contents of the Creative Writing Programme collection is available.
National Schools' Writing Festival and Poetry Competition
Some 200 sixth and seventh form students from around New Zealand come to Victoria University for the Bell Gully National Schools’ Writing Festival. The young writers had a full weekend of readings, panels, and small-group craft workshops. For the printed programme, writers – including NZ Poet Laureate Brian Turner and award-winning novelist Elizabeth Knox – were asked to state the best and worst things about being a writer, and to give a “top tip”. If you want to know what Kate Camp, William Brandt, James Brown, Kate De Goldi, Jenny Bornholdt and a host of others had to say, go here: http://www.vuw.ac.nz/modernletters/festival_writers.htm
The Bell Gully National Schools' Writing Festival was such a success that it is to become a regular event on New Zealand's educational and artistic calendar. Feedback from participating students and writers was entirely positive. Information about the inaugural festival is posted on our website, where you can also find tips from guest writers along with the winning entries in the poetry competition. http://www.vuw.ac.nz/modernletters/festival.htm
Prizewinning Young Poet
Congratulations to Epsom Girls’ Grammar sixth-former Mia Gaudin, who was the winner of the $1,000 Bell Gully National Schools’ Poetry Award. Mia’s prize was presented by radio and television broadcaster Kim Hill at the end of a gala poetry reading attended by about 200 people, including Bell Gully’s chief executive Maggie Callicrate. $500 of the prize goes to Mia herself; the other $500 is for the purchase of poetry books by her school library. Mia’s winning poem “Harriet”, as well as poems by the five runners-up, can be read here: http://www.vuw.ac.nz/modernletters/festival_poetryaward_winners.htm
Gregory O’Brien’s judge’s report can also be read on our website: http://www.vuw.ac.nz/modernletters/festival_poetryaward_report.htm
A Few Thoughts on Poems and Poetry from Brian Turner
A poem need not make plain sense, or be explicable, but it has to have an inner logic. It has to take the reader with it.
Craft is paramount - and craft entertains craftiness. The importance of technique - working at shape/form - cannot be underestimated. Technique is freedom.
Strive to strike the right note. Work on the tone. This often means discovering the appropriate voice. Unless the reader believes a poem is important to the poet, it won’t affect the reader or linger in his or her mind.
Follow your ear. Dredge your mind. Go where you are led until you can’t go any further, then stop and look around. Ask, What have we here?
Revise, revise, revise. Shape, cut, or add if necessary. If you are uneasy about some aspect of a poem - an image or a phrase - then usually you have cause to be. There is nearly always something that needs to be fixed.
Sentiment’s okay, to a degree, sentimentality or sop are not.
What you say is important; how you say it equally important.
If you want to be taken seriously then you have to take your writing very seriously. Don’t be without a notebook.
Read other poets; read widely, and think hard about what you read. Find ways of working that suit you. Learn to recognise what it is that starts a poem off in your head.
Look and listen. Writing is a way of conversing with your sub-conscious and bringing it to life. Sound is often just as important as sense. Read and reread your work aloud.
Lineation/line breaks may be instinctive but not random.
Don’t use figures of speech you are accustomed to seeing in print unless you know what you are doing and why - for ironic purposes, for example.
Verbs and nouns make for good writing. Beware of adverbs and be suspicious if you find too many adjectives plonked in front of nouns.
Brian Turner, August 2003
