We are delighted to announce the winner of the Peter & Dianne Beatson Fellowship 2016 is award-winning Otago poet Michael Harlow.

Michael Harlow will be using his fellowship to complete a book of prose poems with the working title All the Pianos in the Wood.

The selection panel were enormously excited by the high quality of this year's applicants. They commented: 'All of the shortlisted projects were worthy of the Peter and Dianne Beatson Fellowship but we come to a unanimous decision. Michael Harlow’s luminous and psychologically acute prose poems simply leapt off the page and made a compelling argument for support’.

In 2014 Michael Harlow was awarded the prestigious Lauris Edmond Memorial Award for Distinguished Contribution to New Zealand Poetry. He has published ten books of poetry, including Giotto's Elephant (a Finalist in the National Book Award for Poetry, 1991), Cassandra's Daughter (AUP, 2005, 2006), and most recently The Tram Conductor's Blue Cap (AUP). He lives and works as a writer, editor, and Jungian therapist in Alexandra.

With grateful thanks to Peter Beatson this annual award provides the successful applicant with $7,000. In 2014 the fellowship was awarded to Emma Neale who used the time to work on her novel, Billy Bird, the first pages of which were published in Landfall 229 (Autumn 2015) under the title The How Do We Begin?

We would like to congratulate Michael Harlow and also the applicants who were shortlisted: Pip Adam, James George, Christine Leunens, Anna Mackenzie, Frankie McMillan, Diana Noonan and Tony Simpson.

For media enquiries: Claire Hill (09) 379 4801 office@nzauthors.org.nz