Robert Burns Fellowship
The Robert Burns Fellowship was created in 1958 to mark the bicentenary of the birth of the Scottish national poet Robert Burns and is considered New Zealand's most important fellowship in the field of literature. The list of award winners includes many eminent New Zealand authors.
The prize was created by an anonymous group, it is believed, at the suggestion of Charles Brasch . It is awarded annually to "authors of inventive literature, including poetry, drama, fiction, autobiography, biography, essays and literary criticism."
The literary fellowship is based at the University of Otago at Dunedin and includes an annual salary, free accommodation and an office in or near the university for the author. In a few cases it was extended for a further year.
Dunedin is the New Zealand city with the highest percentage of residents of Scottish descent in New Zealand. One of its founders was Burns' nephew Thomas Burns .
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the award, the book Nurse to the imagination: Fifty years of the Robert Burns Fellowship was published in October 2008 .
Robert Burns Fellows
- 1959: Ian Cross
- 1960: Maurice Duggan
- 1961: John Caselberg
- 1962: RAK Mason
- 1963: Maurice Shadbolt
- 1964: Maurice Gee
- 1965: Janet Frame
- 1966-1967: James K. Baxter
- 1968: Ruth Dallas
- 1969: Warren Dibble
- 1970: OE Middleton
- 1971: Noel Hilliard
- 1972: Ian Wedde
- 1973: Graham Billing
- 1974: Hone Tuwhare
- 1975: Witi Ihimaera
- 1976: Sam Hunt
- 1977: Kerry Hulme and Roger Hall
- 1978: Roger Hall and Peter Olds
- 1979: Michael A Noonan
- 1980: Philip Temple
- 1981-1982: William Sewell
- 1983: Rawiri Paratene
- 1984: Brian Turner
- 1985-1986: Cilla McQueen
- 1987: Robert Lord
- 1988: John Dickson
- 1989: Renée
- 1990: David Eggleton
- 1991: Lynley Hood
- 1992: Owen Marshall
- 1993: Stuart Hoare
- 1994: Christine Johnston
- 1995: Elspeth Sandys
- 1996: Bernadette Hall
- 1997: Paddy Richardson
- 1998: Michael King
- 1999: Michael King and Paula Boock
- 2000: James Norcliffe
- 2001: Jo Randerson
- 2002: Alison Wong
- 2003: Nick Ascroft and Sarah Quigley
- 2004: Katherine Duignan
- 2005: Catherine Chidgey
- 2006: Catherine Chidgey and Dianne Ruth Pettis
- 2007: Laurence Fearnley
- 2008: Sue Wootton
- 2009: Michael Harlow
- 2010: Michele Powles
- 2011: Fiona Farrell
- 2012: Emma Neale
- 2013: David Howard
Web links
- Governors' Awards . (PDF (172 kB))Arts Foundation of New Zealand, archived from the original on March18, 2009; accessed on September 9, 2014(English, original website no longer available).
- Information on application and conditions
Individual evidence
- ^ "Fine collection of fellows." Otago Daily Times , September 20, 1998, pp. 49 and 53.