Steven Toussaint and Gregory Kan awarded the 2017 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship

Both poets are graduates of Victoria's Creative Writing programme.

New Zealand poets Steven Toussaint and Gregory Kan have been awarded the prestigious 2017 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship. This is the first time two poets have been the recipients of the fellowship.

Each poet will have  a six-month tenure at the Sargeson Centre in Auckland, and share an annual stipend of $20,000. The fellowship will run from 1 April to 30 November 2017. 

Steven, who will have the first stint at the residence, will use the fellowship to work on a new book of poetry, which will consist of individual poems with unifying themes about religious imagination.

Originally from the United States, Steven was awarded a PhD Creative Writing from Victoria in 2015. His chapbook, Fiddlehead, was published by New Zealand's Compound Press in 2014, and his first full length book, The Bellfounder, was published the following year by the Cultural Society (U.S.). In 2016 he was the University of Waikato Writer-in-Residence.

Gregory will also use the fellowship to work on a collection of poems: consolidating work already completed and writing new pieces which interrogate the writing of biography and autobiography in this era of overwhelming and spectacular information.

Gregory was awarded an MA in Creative Writing in 2012. He published his first book this year, This Paper Boat with Auckland University Press, which is on the Ockham NZ Book Awards long list for poetry. His work has been published in numerous literary journals, as well as contemporary art exhibitions and catalogues.

Frank Sargeson Trust Chair Elizabeth Aitken-Rose says she is delighted with the calibre of this year's fellows and is excited to see them take their work to the next level.

“Being a writer in the digital age gives writers unprecedented opportunity, yet this can make it more challenging for writers to cut through and have their voice heard. This is particularly the case for poets, we are very excited to have two poets win the Fellowship this year.

In 2016 the fellowship was awarded to Diana Wichtel and Breton Dukes. Other previous winners include Alan Duff, Catherine Chidgey, Michael King and Janet Frame.

The fellowship has been recognising and supporting some of our greatest talents for more than 30 years, says Grimshaw & Co Partner Paul Grimshaw.

“It offers vital support to New Zealand writers to focus, uninterrupted, on their work,” Grimshaw says. “They are contributing to New Zealand’s literary landscape and we are very proud to support them.”

Adapted from a media release by the Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship, 28 November 2016. Read the full media release.