English Department - University of Canterbury

English Department - University of Canterbury Nau mai! As a community we look to learn from each other - students, academic staff and professional staff alike. Thank you for your cooperation.

This is the official page of the English Programme at the University of Canterbury Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. We offer courses and supervision in a broad variety of fields, and our department has a history of innovative and distinguished scholarship. We have a strong programme in the more 'traditional' areas of English, such as the study of li

terature (including novels, short stories, poetry, drama and Shakespeare) and creative writing. Members of our department are experts in New Zealand, Pasifika, American and European literature(s), as well as in movements such as Romanticism and Postcolonialism. We also have specialists in more recent and interdisciplinary fields such as young adult and children’s fiction, science fiction and dystopia, horror and the supernatural, popular culture, critical sexualities, critical animal studies, digital literary studies and cultural studies. We are proud of our interdisciplinary and community connections. We house the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, teach the core courses for UC’s Cultural Studies programme and are involved in the Digital Humanities programme. We host the Ursula Bethell Residency in Creative Writing, which is co-funded by Creative New Zealand. Our academics teach into and offer supervision within other departments and programmes. We also house the Cinema Studies programme, who teach into our offerings at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. If you are interested in studying with us, whether you're starting out or are interested in a higher degree such as an MA (a Masters of Arts by research), an MWRIT (a Master of Writing), or a PhD, we'd love to hear from you. This page is tended by Erin Harrington (UC lecturer), with contributions provided by academic staff, professional staff, students, and members of the community.

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Happy WORD Christchurch week! We were really happy to see such a great write up about our last Ursula Bethell writer in ...
30/08/2026

Happy WORD Christchurch week! We were really happy to see such a great write up about our last Ursula Bethell writer in residence, Shehan Karunatilaka, who is appearing across the festival.

Hot off The Press, read all about the witty and brilliant Shehan Karunatilaka - WORD guest and Christchurch local. Tickets are still available for all his sessions at the festival THIS WEEK.

A special hat tip to our partners University of Canterbury, AKA the reason we've got so many amazing writers who have moved to our city.

21/08/2026

🚨DEADLINE EXTENDED🚨 Applications for the University of Canterbury / Creative New Zealand Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence positions for 2027 are currently open. The closing date has been *extended* by a week - applications now close Sunday 30 August. Please click through for more info.

We're so proud of MWRIT alumna Charlotte Bell, whose first book One Year Out, published by Folly Press, has been receivi...
21/08/2026

We're so proud of MWRIT alumna Charlotte Bell, whose first book One Year Out, published by Folly Press, has been receiving rave reviews up and down the country. Congratulations Charlotte! If you want to see why people are so excited about the book, you can find copies with our friends at UBS - University Bookshop Canterbury.

This is publication week for pip adam's new novel kluge! pip wrote much of this while with us as one of the University o...
20/08/2026

This is publication week for pip adam's new novel kluge! pip wrote much of this while with us as one of the University of Canterbury / Creative New Zealand 2024 Ursula Bethell Writers in Residence. The book combines the form and tone of a stand up comedy special with language in the style of AI chatbots to tell a story the last days of a tech company and its all-powerful owner, all threaded through with questions about what it means to have a body. Ngā mihi nui pip! If you want to know more, here's pip in conversation with Kathryn Ryan on Nine to Noon on RNZ.

While writing her latest novel on a dystopian world, badly behaving tech billionaires, and artificial intelligence, Pip Adam's writing took a turn. She discovered her previous works had been stolen by Meta's large language model. In her new novel kluge, the narrator looks back, from 120 years in the...

Congratulations to creative writing student Indigo Tomlinson, who is one of the featured poets at the Canterbury Poets' ...
19/08/2026

Congratulations to creative writing student Indigo Tomlinson, who is one of the featured poets at the Canterbury Poets' Collective's even Lambing Season tomorrow night. If you are keen to head along info is in the image - and there's an open mic for people aged 15-25 too.

Attention creative writers! Applications for the prestigious 2026 MacMillan Brown Prize for Writers are now open. This p...
10/08/2026

Attention creative writers! Applications for the prestigious 2026 MacMillan Brown Prize for Writers are now open. This prize recognises excellence in English composition by current and recent undergraduate students of the University of Canterbury. Three prizes are available: a first prize with a value of $2000, a second prize with a value of $1000 and a third prize of $500.

Applicants must submit an original piece of writing of their own sole composition, either unpublished or published, which deals imaginatively with any theme: an essay, a short story, a poem or group of poems, or a short play. The total length of the submission must not exceed 2,500 words. Only one submission of works is permitted in each application round.

For further information and to apply, please refer to the Scholarships website and search for ‘MacMillan Brown Prize for Writers’. (Please note: In order to ‘Apply’, you will need to log into the Scholarships portal via your myUC account.)

Applications for our 2027 UC / Creative New Zealand Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence positions are currently open, and...
10/08/2026

Applications for our 2027 UC / Creative New Zealand Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence positions are currently open, and close on Sunday 23 August. The roles are six months each full time, based on our Ilam campus in Ōtautahi, with a salary of $85K pa (pro-rated for 6 months). Click through for more information, including residency dates, how to apply, and who to contact if you have questions.

Join UC as the 2027 Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence and dedicate six months to your creative work.

Attention monster fans - this year's Ada Wells Memorial Prize might be for you. The Ada Wells Memorial Prize of $1000 is...
07/08/2026

Attention monster fans - this year's Ada Wells Memorial Prize might be for you.

The Ada Wells Memorial Prize of $1000 is awarded annually and is open to all undergraduates and all graduates of not more than three years' standing from their first degree. The prize is awarded for an essay which must not exceed 3,000 words. This year’s topic is:

"Hollywood spends vast sums on creating frightening monsters. The studios seem to succeed, at least sometimes, because some horror movies do engender fear. Or do they? How can we fear something that we know does not exist? Discuss with reference to two examples of horror movies."

Referencing is expected where appropriate and the length must not exceed 3,000 words. Applications will close at 11.59pm on 30 September.

For further information and to apply, please refer to the Scholarships website and search for ‘Ada Wells Memorial Prize’. In order to ‘Apply’, you will need to log into the Scholarships portal via your myUC account.

Good luck!

Image credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/GODZILLA/comments/194sbf6/what_is_godzilla_reading/

The UC Centre for Entrepreneurship is hosting an Info Evening for our 2026-27 Summer Startup Programme on Tuesday 11th A...
07/08/2026

The UC Centre for Entrepreneurship is hosting an Info Evening for our 2026-27 Summer Startup Programme on Tuesday 11th August 2026 between 5pm – 6pm. This is an amazing opportunity for students to learn about how they can explore and develop their venture ideas over the summer. Students in English and the wider arts and humanities often have creative and entrepeneurial ideas that could really flourish with a bit of support, and might not often think about themselves in this light, or might see this as more geared towards commerce and the sciences. Not true! This initiative is a robust and supportive way of pushing things along, so if you have a bright idea bubbling away with is a great opportunity.

Attention playwrights! Our friends at Isaac Theatre Royal and Rollicking Entertainment Ltd are looking for writers from ...
04/08/2026

Attention playwrights! Our friends at Isaac Theatre Royal and Rollicking Entertainment Ltd are looking for writers from across Ōtautahi and Te Waipounamu to participate in this year's Festival of New Theatre, 10-11 October.

This is an opportunity for playwrights to develop and test new work through professionally supported staged readings and audience feedback forums. Selected playwrights will have their work - new, or in-development - presented as a staged reading at the Isaac Theatre Royal, providing the opportunity to hear their work performed and gain insights from audiences and theatre-makers.

Previous iterations of this event have been great, so please click through and have a read about what they are looking for if you or the playwright in your life might be interested. Applications close Friday 14 August.

We're inviting playwrights to submit new and in-development work for the 2026 Festival of New Theatre.The Festival of New Theatre is an opportunity for playwrights to develop and test new work through professionally supported staged readings and audience feedback forums. Selected playwrights will ha...

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Level 6, Karl Popper Building, University Of Canterbury, University Drive
Christchurch
8041

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