Writer heading to Dunedin looking for inspiration
AN awardwinning Australian writer and essayist is headed to Dunedin in search of inspiration for her next writing project.
ShuLing Chua, of Melbourne, has been selected as the inaugural international recipient of Dunedin’s new Caselberg Trust Margaret Egan Cities of Literature Writers’ Residency.
Ms Chua said she was ‘‘thrilled’’ to be selected and was looking forward to what she believed would be a ‘‘beautifully inspiring’’ time at Caselberg House in Broad Bay.
While her preferred form of writing is lyric essays, she has also written nonfiction, criticism, poetry and fiction for various publications, including Peril Magazine, Meanjin, Going Down Swinging, Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Vogue China, and 4A Papers.
Her essay collection, Echoes, jointly won the 2021 Small Press Network Book of the Year Award, and other recent achievements included being shortlisted for the 2021 Deakin University Nonfiction Prize and the 2018 Woollahra Digital Literary Award.
During her residency, she planned to work on a fulllength essay collection on art, intimacy, longing, and the blurry boundaries between private and public.
City of Literature director Nicky Page said the writers’ residency, organised by the Caselberg Trust and Dunedin Unesco City of Literature, was launched on March 3, 2023 to mark International Writers’ Day.
‘‘It will be offered every second year to writers from the other 41 Unesco Cities of Literature, and solely to applicants from Dunedin and across New Zealand every other year.’’
She said Ms Chua was one of 42 applicants from 22 cities of literature across the world.
‘‘The judges were very impressed by the high standard of all the applications, but ShuLing’s work stood out for them in a talented field.
‘‘Having the space to focus on her extremely interesting essay collection in the beautiful Caselberg House will no doubt make for an enriching residency for ShuLing, and enriching for our city of literature too.’’
The residency will allow her to live and write in the
Caselberg House, in Broad Bay, for six weeks from October to midNovember 2023.