Ōtepoti will soon be welcoming acclaimed author, Siobhan Harvey, who will take up residence from October to mid-November as the recipient of the 2026 Caselberg Trust Margaret Egan Cities of Literature Writers Residency.
This residency, awarded jointly by the Caselberg Trust and Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature, offers writers a unique opportunity to work on a substantial piece of creative writing and engage with Dunedin’s literary heritage and dynamic writing community. The 2026 residency is specifically for writers from Aotearoa New Zealand.
Ms Harvey will swap her Tāmaki Makaurau base for the Caselberg House in Whakaohorahi/Broad Bay, where she will spend six weeks immersed in the landscapes of the Otago Peninsula.
“Being awarded a residency is taonga to a writer,” she said.
“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.”
Ms Harvey has authored nine books, including her recent memoir What We Remember, What We Forget – an exploration of family, warrior motherhood, queerness, recollection, trauma, and survival. The memoir was a category winner at the 2025 Memoir Prize for Books (US) and highly commended in the 2024 Bridport Memoir Award (UK). She is currently shortlisted for the 2026 international Heroines Women’s Writing Prize.
The Residency is offered annually for a period of six weeks, alternating between writers from Aotearoa New Zealand and writers from UNESCO Cities of Literature around the world. The Residency is made possible through a generous bequest to the Caselberg Trust by the late Margaret Egan.
Ōtepoti became Aotearoa’s first UNESCO Creative City when it was awarded ‘City of Literature’ status in 2014. The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) is designed to develop international co-operation among cities and encourages partnerships that deliver on UNESCO’s global priorities of culture and sustainable development. There are eight different Creative City designations: architecture, craft and folk art, design, film, gastronomy, literature, media arts, and music.
