Freedom for authors gasping for some space is just an email away – the Foxton Fellowship is calling for submissions. You get a whole gorgeous month in a bach on the Kapiti Coast (see right) plus five thousand dollars. But you have to be a member of the NZ Society of Authors (no great hardship, I’m sure).

This year's fellow is Marilyn Duckworth, incidentally, and the 2002 fellow, Janice Marriott said things like ‘wonderful’ and ‘much writing’.

It’s available for writers of fiction, drama or poetry. You should have had work published in book form or have had a substantial amount of work published in literary journals. If you are a drama queen, you should have produced for stage or screen, it doesn’t say what. The deadline for submissions is September 30 2004.

Interested writers can email the NZSA office at nzsa@clear.net.nz for an application form and conditions. Or write to New Zealand Society of Authors, Box 67 013, Mt Eden, Auckland 1030.