The University of Otago College of Education Writer in Residence

Joanna Orwin

University of Otago College of Education Writer in Residence 2009

Writing is a solitary and self-absorbed occupation, and it’s often hard not to feel defensive when people ask – as they still do – ‘but what is your real job?’ It doesn’t help that most New Zealand writers still do have a ‘real job’ in addition to writing, simply because starving in the garret would become a reality without some more reliable income than that provided by publishing a book every year or so. The downside is that it’s easy, and sometimes essential, to give the paid work priority over the writing, so both time and creative energy are soon swallowed up. Being awarded Otago’s Children’s Writer in Residence is therefore akin to being given the keys to the kingdom. Not only am I formally contracted to work on a creative writing project for 6 glorious months – and therefore required to give it priority over everything else, I am also provided with an office in a stimulating environment where everyone around me believes in the value of writing for children. That and the kudos of joining the list of writers awarded this Fellowship is great affirmation to someone easily besieged by self-doubt.

While I’m in Dunedin, I have the privilege and pleasure of living in the Robert Lord Cottage, immersed in the history of its 100 years , Robert’s palpable presence, and the challenge of mastering a coal range. The cottage is within 10 minutes of the Ross Creek tracks, giving me respite from sitting at my desk. Landscape forms an integral part of my work and is often the trigger for new story ideas. Exploring Otago’ s natural surroundings with a local tramping group as well as relishing the city’s rich cultural opportunities are bound to feed into future projects.

The project I’m working on is a three-part story for teenagers set in a time several hundred years after cataclysmic volcanic eruptions on the Pacific Rim have destroyed life as we know it. Isolated small societies have developed in different environments and with different structures and cultures. I’m loosely basing my story on pre-history Polynesian life styles and mythologies, using them to explore what leads isolated societies to failure and the role of religious and political power in that process – Easter Island history being the trigger idea for this book. My characters will experience adventure and hardship, romance and sacrifice, and become leading players in a self-destructing society.

Launch of book Collision in September 2009

The University Book Shop is very pleased to be holding the launch for Collision by award-winning New Zealand writer, Joanna Orwin.

Published by HarperCollins, Collision is about the violent impact of opposing forces; the clash of two different world views and cultures.

In 1772 a disastrous collision in the Southern Ocean saw French expedition leader, Monsieur Marc Joseph Marion du Fresne, bring the tall ships Marquis de Castries and Mascarin into the Bay of Islands, northern New Zealand, seeking fresh water and new spars.

Through the eyes of André Tallec, a young ensign, and his counterpart, Te Kape, favoured protégée of local chief Te Kuri, the events of the next two months unfold with harrowing tension and a sense of impending doom.

Blinded by the apparent goodwill of the Naturals and his belief in French superiority, Marion misunderstands their interactions with local Maori. Each day, the French unwittingly transgress further. With gathering frustration, the local chiefs find their mana increasingly compromised and their spiritual wellbeing threatened. Te Kuri and his fellow chiefs try every means at their disposal to encourage these strange tipua from the sea to leave them in peace, until only one course of honourable action remains. In a superb retelling of a collision of cultures doomed to end in tragedy, Joanna Orwin cleverly interweaves Maori and European perspectives, providing a vivid and compelling tale of loyalty, friendship, bloodshed and revenge from the age of encounter - when European and Polynesian first measured each other face to face.

Closing report, Joanna Orwin

Grey skies, wind and rain through most of a bitterly cold May, June and July – some say this has been the worst winter on record (and not just in Dunedin). Despite donning merino long johns, cranking up the coal range, and still struggling to keep warm enough in the 100-year-old Robert Lord Writers Cottage, when I look back on my 6 months in Dunedin, I’ll remember only warmth – the warmth of the welcome I’ve received and the friendship of the people I’ve met.

My time here has been productive beyond all my expectations of what I might accomplish. With such easy access to the wonderful University library and printing/photocopying facilities, I have completed all the research I planned for the project I’ve been working on – a three-part post-apocalyptic story for teenagers set several hundred years after cataclysmic volcanic eruptions on the Pacific Rim. During the 6 months of the Residency, I have also finished writing the first part of this story – the fastest I’ve ever written a 62,000-word novel. This has now been submitted to my publisher.

This in itself is a measure of the benefits of holding a Writer’s Residency. Despite indulging in Dunedin’s many delightful diversions of cafes, theatre, bookshops, and long day walks with a local tramping group, the real focus of my time here has been writing. Having financial freedom and continuity of time and effort to spend on one project has meant my writing has progressed without any disruptive setbacks (apart from my usual need to rewrite several times the first five or six chapters while I found my way into the story and developed the characters). As a result, although normally when I’m revising, my scientific editing background gives me a ruthless eye and a trigger finger on the delete button, the completed draft needed fine-tuning only.

As well as being able to focus on my own writing, I’ve contributed in small ways to programmes at the College of Education and the wider University and have enjoyed the sessions talking to the public, students, and staff. I also had the pleasure of launching my latest novel Collision in Dunedin towards the end of the Residency, a successful and well-attended event at the University Book Shop.

I’ll miss Dunedin, its environment and the people I’ve met here, but will go home to Christchurch feeling I’ve made the most of the opportunities provided by being awarded the 2009 Children’s Writer in Residence.