Fearnley awarded NZ$10,000 NZSA Peter and Dianne Beatson Fellowship

The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) has announced Laurence Fearnley as the recipient of the 2023 NZSA Peter and Dianne Beatson Fellowship, worth NZ$10,000.

Fearnley will use the fellowship to work on her novel with the working title ‘The Palette Club (A tender violence)’, the fourth in a series of novels based around the five senses.

The judging panel of Philippa Werry and Paddy Richardson said they were ‘drawn to the beautiful prose’ of Fearnley’s sample text, ‘and felt it was a strong project from a fine writer whose books are notable for their strong sense of place and landscape’.

Fearnley said the novel was based on the sense of sight. ‘The novel will be a challenge for me as it is split into two historical periods. One is centred around 1893–1930, based on the artistic career of Margaret Stoddart, a professional watercolourist who was a contemporary of Kate Sheppard and Frances Hodgkins. The second timeline centres on the 1993 suffrage centennial period and follows an artist who is commissioned by a feature film company to replicate Stoddart’s paintings for a full-length movie about the artist.’

Also shortlisted were Maxine Alterior, Majella Cullinane, Johanna Emeney and Adrienne Jansen.

The 2022 fellowship was awarded to Tim Jones, whose novel Emergency Weather is to be published by The Cuba Press.

Category: Awards Local news