At a memorial service for Michael King at Te Papa (pictured) in Wellington yesterday, it was proposed that a writers' centre be set up in his memory.

Gordon McLauchlan, speaking at the service, asked for help to set up the centre. He said a property next to short-story writer and novelist Frank Sargeson's cottage at 14 Esmonde Road, Takapuna, was on the market.

The section once belonged to Sargeson, who died in 1982, and on it stood the army hut in which Janet Frame wrote Owls Do Cry.

King was deputy chairman of the Sargeson Trust and a supporter of initiatives to help writers work on their craft, McLauchlan said. "We've got the chance of getting [the section] back, and I urge anyone ... [able] to do so to help us set up the Michael King Writing Centre."

Sounds like a brilliant idea to us at LeafSalon.