Fulbright New Zealand and Creative New Zealand are delighted to announce Simone Kaho is the recipient of the 2025 Pacific Writer’s Residency.
This annual award is for an established New Zealand writer of Pacific heritage to carry out work on a creative writing project exploring Pacific identity, culture or history at the University of Hawai’i for three months.
Simone Kaho says many writers she admires and follows have won the award in previous years.
“It’s a fabulous thing to receive institutional support for work that is so challenging. What if our most profound connections aren’t just with family, but in deep attunement with nature, recognising patterns in the unseen, and finding new ways to move forward? In this project, I’ll be drawing theoretical lines between Pacific people who are neurodiverse, and the traits of Pacific wayfinders—and I hope to find evidence of these in Hawai’i’s research archives,” said Simone Kaho.
Fulbright NZ Executive Director Penelope Borland says it is heartening to see the residency taken up by a poet of Simone’s distinction.
“We are thrilled to be granting the 2025 Pacific Writer’s Residency to Simone Kaho, enabling her to continue her work that has already received widespread acclaim, most recently seeing her take up the 2022 Emerging Pasifika writer in Residence at the prestigious International Institute of Modern Letters. With this award, Simone will travel to Hawai’i, where I am sure a deeply meaningful experience awaits her,” said Penelope Borland.
Makerita Urale, Creative New Zealand’s Senior Manager Pacific Arts, herself an alumna of the residency, says the award is timely for Simone’s literary career.
“Simone’s work is fearless and deeply grounded in lived experience and cultural insight. This residency is a fitting next step for an artist of her calibre, and we look forward to seeing how her time in Hawai’i will further shape and strengthen her work,” says Makerita.
Previous recipients of the prestigious Pacific Writer’s Residency have been some of New Zealand’s most celebrated writers, including Tusiata Avia, Karlo Mila, Oscar Kightley, David Eggleton, Mīria George and playwright Victor Rodger.