Local writers, or aspiring writers, will have the chance to work with an award-winning author at this year’s Wānaka Autumn Arts School.

Novelist and short story writer Catherine Chidgey won Best First Book at the New Zealand Book Awards as well as the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (South-East Asia and South Pacific) for her book In a Fishbone Church. 

The novel went on to be long-listed for the Orange Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world.

The Wānaka Autumn Arts School, held annually at Mount Aspiring College during the April school holidays, is organised by the Upper Clutha Community Arts Council (UCCAC). 

The school offers workshops in a range of creative disciplines, from painting to photography to printmaking to writing. 

Past writing tutors have included columnist Joe Bennett, novelist and poet Fiona Farrell, and playwright and children’s writer David Hill.

UCCAC committee member Laura Williamson said having the chance to learn from a writer of Catherine Chidgey’s calibre was an exceptional opportunity for a small rural community. 

“Catherine is a multiple award-winner who is known globally for her innovative and captivating work,” Laura said.

“Her latest novel, The Axeman’s Carnival, is actually told through the eyes of a magpie on a high country farm. It’s really amazing.”

In the workshop, Catherine will lead participants through a series of exercises to help them produce “original and dynamic writing”.

She will encourage them to think laterally about such topics as voice, structure, choice of narrator, and the use of autobiographical material. Participants have the option of working on either short fiction or prose poetry, and each day will include workshopping of new pieces.

Catherine has also been awarded the Prize in Modern Letters, the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship, the Janet Frame Fiction Prize, and the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize. Her book Remote Sympathy was also shortlisted for the DUBLIN Literary Award and the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in the UK.

This year’s Wānaka Autumn Arts School will be held at Mount Aspiring College campus from April 17 to 21. Find more information here.

PHOTO: Supplied