Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival
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  • DWRF 2021
    • Welcome
    • Programme 2021 >
      • Ngā Kete Mātauranga
      • Gala Showcase – What Does the Future Hold?
      • Workshop: Self Starters - SOLD OUT
      • Guiding Lights - CANCELLED
      • Crossing Genres
      • Crossing Boundaries – Form & Content in Poetry & Storytelling
      • Escaping the Humdrum
      • Workshop: Lusting for Words – Writing Romance SOLD OUT
      • Navigating the Stars – Māori Creation Myths - SOLD OUT
      • Women, Past & Present
      • At the Drop of a Hat
      • Schools Programme
      • Love in the Time of Covid – A Chronicle of a Pandemic
      • Workshop: Seeds of Poetry SOLD OUT
      • Magical Rights
      • A New Plaque: Essie Summers
      • Things OK with You?
      • The Language of Flowers
      • Drawing the World
      • NZ Crime – What's Going On?
      • The Books that Made Me
      • Rivers, Riptides & Roads
      • Walking the Heartland
      • Writing Romance in the 21st Century
      • The Wilder Years: Selected Poems
      • Rocketing to Fame
      • Story Time Double Decker Bus
      • The Historical Novel: Germany
      • Mapping Dunedin's Stories
      • A Posse of Poets
      • Decolonisation – Activating Allies
      • Writing for Children
      • Politics of Poetry
      • Girl in the Mirror
      • Placing Fantasy Inside the Real World
    • Guest Bios >
      • Amanda Thomas
      • Angela Wanhalla
      • Annabel Wilson
      • Becky Manawatu
      • Bridget Schaumann
      • Bronwyn Wylie-Gibb
      • Bruce Ansley
      • Catherine Chidgey
      • David Ciccoricco
      • David Eggleton
      • David Elliot
      • Derek Morrison
      • Diane Brown
      • Dougal Rillstone
      • Elizabeth Knox
      • Emma Neale
      • Emma Wood
      • Fiona Farrell
      • Frank Gordon
      • Gareth Ward
      • HG Parry
      • Jacinta Ruru
      • Jared Savage
      • Jasmine OM Taylor
      • Jayne Castel
      • Jessica Thompson Carr
      • Jillian Sullivan
      • Kaitrin McMullan
      • Kathryn van Beek
      • Kirby-Jane Hallum
      • Kyle Mewburn
      • Laura Williamson
      • Liz Breslin
      • Lynn Freeman
      • Majella Cullinane
      • Marcelle Nader-Turner
      • Te Kai a te Rangatira
      • Melissa Boardman
      • Michelle Elvy
      • Mihiata Pirini
      • Nalini Singh
      • Nicola Cummins
      • Phillippa Duffy
      • Rebecca Kiddle
      • Rhian Gallagher
      • Rob Kidd
      • Robyn Belton
      • Roger Hickin
      • Rose Carlyle
      • Sally Peart
      • Shona Riddell
      • Steff Green
      • Steve Braunias
      • Susan Sims
      • Swapna Haddow
      • Vanda Symon
      • Victor Billot
      • Vincent O'Sullivan
      • Witi Ihimaera
    • Ticketing & Accessibility
    • Venues
  • GALLERY
    • Gallery 2021
    • Gallery 2019
    • Programme Launch 2019
    • Gallery 2017
    • Gallery 2015
  • MEDIA
    • Podcasts 2021
    • Podcasts 2019
  • Supporters
    • Funders and Sponsors
  • E-Newsletter
  • Past festivals
    • Celtic Noir 2019
    • DWRF 2019 >
      • Welcome
      • Programme 2019
      • Venues
      • Meet our 2019 sponsors
    • DWRF 2017 >
      • Welcome
      • Programme 2017
      • Venues 2017
      • 2017 Funders and Sponsors
    • DWRF 2015 >
      • Festival Attendees 2015
    • DWRF 2014
  • ABOUT
    • Festival Team
    • Vouchers
    • Volunteer
    • Contact

Jillian Sullivan

Jillian lives in the Ida Valley in Central Otago. Her thirteen published books include creative non-fiction, novels, memoir, short stories, and poetry. She taught fiction and creative non-fiction in New Zealand and America. Once the drummer in a women’s indie pop band, now a grandmother of nine, she is a passionate practitioner of natural building, including her own strawbale home (which she wrote about in the memoir A Way Home). Her latest book is the collection of her essays, Map for the Heart – Ida Valley Essays (Otago University Press, 2020).

Her awards include the Highlights Fiction Award and Juncture Memoir Award in America, the Elyne Mitchell Writing Award for non-fiction in Australia, the NZ Society of Authors Beatson Fellowship, the Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems, the Takahe Poetry Prize, and the NZ Heritage Literary Award for poetry. She holds a Master’s of Creative Writing, with Distinction, from Massey University.

A keen environmentalist, Jillian is the secretary for the Central Otago Environmental Society, and co-founder of Under Rough Ridge Writers Retreat. 

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Jillian Sullivan at DWRF 2021:
​Gala Showcase – What Does the Future Hold?
​Walking the Heartland

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Our thanks to our major funders

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