The University of Otago is a public research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in Oceania.
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The city has a rich Māori, Scottish, and Chinese heritage.
The Robert Burns Fellowship is a New Zealand literary residency. Established in 1958 to coincide with bicentennial celebrations of the birth of Robert Burns, it is often claimed to be New Zealand's premier literary residency. The list of past fellows includes many of New Zealand's most notable 20th and 21st century writers.
Sir Roger Leighton Hall is one of New Zealand's most successful playwrights, arguably best known for comedies that carry a vein of social criticism and feelings of pathos.
Priscilla Muriel McQueen is a poet and three-time winner of the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry.
The Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, established in 1962, is one of New Zealand's premier arts residencies. The list of past fellows includes many of New Zealand's most notable artists.
Brian Lindsay Turner is a New Zealand poet and author. He played hockey for New Zealand in the 1960s; senior cricket in Dunedin and Wellington; and was a veteran road cyclist of note. His mountaineering experience includes an ascent of a number of major peaks including Aoraki / Mount Cook.
Raymond Robert Forster was a New Zealand arachnologist and museum director. He was a Fellow of the Entomological Society of New Zealand.
David Eggleton is a New Zealand poet, critic and writer. Eggleton has been awarded the Ockham New Zealand Book Award for poetry and in 2019 was appointed New Zealand Poet Laureate, a title he held until 2022. Eggleton's work has appeared in a multitude of publications in New Zealand and he has released over 18 poetry books (1986–2001) with a variety of publishers, including Penguin.
Douglas Saxon Coombs was a New Zealand mineralogist and petrologist.
Sue Wootton is a New Zealand writer, specialising in poetry and short fiction.
Emma Neale is a novelist and poet from New Zealand.
Diane Edith Brown is a novelist and poet from New Zealand.
George John Griffiths was a New Zealand historian, writer, and journalist.
Barbara Helen Else, also known as Barbara Neale, is a New Zealand writer, editor, and playwright. She has written novels for adults and children, plays, short stories and articles and has edited anthologies of children's stories. She has received a number of awards and fellowships including the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature, the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal and the Victoria University of Wellington's Writer's Fellowship.
The University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children's Writer in Residence is a six-month Fellowship for children's writers who normally live in New Zealand.
Robyn Belton is an illustrator of children's books. Her work, often focusing on themes of war and peace, has won many prizes, including the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 1997 Picture Book Winner and Book of the Year, and the Russell Clark Award in 1985 and 2009. She herself has been recognised with the prestigious Storylines Margaret Mahy Award and the inaugural Ignition Children's Book Festival Award. She lives in Otago, New Zealand.
Denis O'Connor is a New Zealand-based ceramicist, sculptor, and writer who has exhibited both in New Zealand and internationally.
Atholl John Anderson is a New Zealand archaeologist who has worked extensively in New Zealand and the Pacific. His work is notable for its syntheses of history, biology, ethnography and archaeological evidence. He made a major contribution to the evidence given by the iwi (tribe) Ngāi Tahu to the Waitangi Tribunal.
