Caselberg Trust Margaret Egan Cities of Literature Writers Resident 2026

'Siobhan Harvey' by Liz March © Siobhan Harvey, 2025

Warmest congratulations to Siobhan Harvey of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, recipient of the six-week Caselberg Trust Margaret Egan Cities of Literature Writers Residency.

The Residency, run jointly by the Caselberg Trust and Ōtepoti UNESCO City of Literature, is made possible thanks to a generous bequest from the late Margaret Egan.

The Residency offers writers dedicated time and space to develop new work while engaging with Ōtepoti’s remarkable literary community and landscape. Since its establishment, the Residency has welcomed writers from across Aotearoa and from other UNESCO Cities of Literature in alternating years, fostering creative exchange, collaboration, and friendship. This year it was open to writers from across the motu. Siobhan commented:

Being awarded a residency is taonga to a writer. It's a treasured gift of time, space and support assisting the development of a literary project. I'm humbled to be selected for the recipient of the prestigious Caselberg Trust Margaret Egan Cities of Literature Writers Residency 2026, and am already looking forward to inspirational time spent in the Caselberg Trust's nurturing creative environment.

Siobhan, who will be welcomed to the Caselberg House in Whakaohorahi Broad Bay from the start of October till mid-November, was selected from an especially strong field. A judge noted:

The applications received were of an incredibly high standard, and so many of the projects posed valuable questions about life in Aotearoa today. I was impressed by the innovation evident in the proposals, and appreciate the writers' time and efforts in making their submissions. The shortlist could easily have been twice as long.

We look forward to extending a warm Ōtepoti welcome to Siobhan in October!

Siobhan Harvey is the author of nine books, including the newly released memoir What We Remember, What We Forget (Otago University Press, 2026). A book about family, warrior motherhood, queerness, recollection, disregard, trauma and survival, it was a category winner at the 2025 Memoir Prize for Books (US) and highly commended in the 2024 Bridport Memoir Award (UK). She is shortlisted for the 2026 international Heroines Women's Writing Prize.