SHADBOLT HOUSE: A NEW WRITER’S RESIDENCY

Going West – the longest running indy LitFest in Aotearoa – has a new string to our bow: the development of a writers’ residency in the house once owned and lived in by Maurice Shadbolt. The house is in an idyllic location in Titirangi, surrounded by native forest and overlooking the Manukau Harbour.

The residency will provide a valuable platform for new, innovative literary work. Going West has hugely increased our commissioning in recent years, with podcasts, a book and two seasons of innovative short films (Different Out Loud and Moving Portraits). To this will be added a residency within Shadbolt House, which will provide for new commissions and publications.

In addition to producing new literary outputs, the Shadbolt House initiative will preserve an artefact of cultural history: the house itself. Maurice Shadbolt lived and worked there for 40 years, virtually all of his creative career. The house saw a great deal of life, with many of the cultural luminaries of the post war period meeting there.

Just as importantly (or maybe more), it will serve as a platform that's less about Shadbolt, and more about contemporary culture. We celebrate Shadbolt not by enshrining him, but by looking to the present and the future, just as he did. Shadbolt’s output was both extensive and wide ranging. In addition to writing some of New Zealand's most acclaimed novels, much of his income came from journalism for international titles like National Geographic. With the emergence of post war academic writing, many literary types looked down on him for his hustle. We think it's something to celebrate.

It's been a long road that's passed through two different city councils, old Waitākere and now Auckland. There's been a small army of politicians, civil servants, and literally thousands of hours from the Going West team helping get us to this point. It’s extremely gratifying to have the property, but now our real work is just beginning: we have a mountain of fundraising to achieve in quite a short space of time. So once the house has been rehabilitated, and the residency is established, there's going to be a truly unique resource for writers, and a significant body of new work for readers.

Heritage listing for Shadbolt House

A major milestone has been passed on the project, with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga confirming Maurice Shadbolt House and Studio in Titirangi as a Category 1 historic place. The listing identifies it as a place of outstanding heritage significance for its long and close association with one of New Zealand’s best-known late 20th Century writer

You can download the full report in support of this listing by clicking this link: Maurice Shadbolt House and Studio Report

You can download the conservation plan prepared by Burgess + Treep Architects at this link: Shadbolt House conservation plan

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Shadbolt House in the media

Fleur Adcock passed away in October, 2024, aged 86. This tribute on Newsroom includes some fascinating references to Maurice Shadbolt and to Shadbolt House.