Six writers have been awarded 2025 residencies at the historic cottage in Ōtepoti Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature, and applications are open until 17 January 2025 for residencies between September 2025 and early January 2026.

The Robert Lord Writers Cottage Trust is delighted to announce that six writers will take up residencies at the cottage in early 2025: Stacey Teague (University Book Shop (Otago) Summer Writer in Residence), Micky Delahunty, Tracy Farr, Gail Ingram, Annie Villiers and Dani Yourukova. 

Wellington-based poet, publisher, editor and teacher Stacey Teague (Ngāti Maniapoto/Ngāpuhi) is the University Book Shop (Otago) Summer Writer in Residence for 2025. She completed her Masters in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2019, and her most recent book, Plastic, was published by Te Herenga Waka University Press in March 2024.

Kāpiti coast playwright Micky Delahunty has written over 30 plays, the majority for teenagers to perform and many through a feminist lens. Micky has receivedthe Bruce Mason Award and the Plays For The Young Award and was awarded the Playmarket Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Recent plays include Shitspeare, #UsTwo, Interrupting Cow and JIMMY, and they are currently working on Hey Siri for the 2025 Wellington Fringe. 

Tracy Farr is a writer who used to be a scientist. She is co-curator and host of live literary series Bad Diaries Salon and its sister project Bad Diaries Podcast. In 2024 she won the NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press prize for her third novel, Wonderland, which will be published by The Cuba Press in 2025. She lives on Te Motu Kairangi Miramar Peninsula in Wellington.

Gail Ingram is an award-winning writer from Ōtautahi and author of three poetry collections, anthology (n.) a collection of flowers (Pūkeko Publications 2024) her most recent. She works as a creative writing teacher and editor. https://www.theseventhletter.nz/

Annie Villiers is a poet and author living and working in Central Otago. Her publications include two poetry collections in collaboration with artist John Z. Robinson, a novel, and poetry and writing in magazines and journals, including Landfall and North & South.

Dani Yourukova is a Wellington-based poet, essayist,critic and amateur occultist. They completed their Masters of Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters, and their debut poetry collection Transposium was published by Auckland University Press in October last year. 

Playwright Robert Lord bought his cottage in Titan St, Dunedin, after taking up the 1987 Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago. Located near the university and the town centre, the worker's cottage has three furnished rooms and a courtyard garden. It has been run as a rent-free residency for writers since 2003.

Applications are now open for residencies between late 2025 and early 2026 –for details, see the ‘How to Apply’ page on www.robertlordwriterscottage.nz.