The Robert Burns Fellowship is a New Zealand literary residency. Established in 1958 to coincide with bicentennial celebrations of the birth of Robert Burns, it is often claimed to be New Zealand's premier literary residency. The list of past fellows includes many of New Zealand's most notable 20th and 21st century writers. Overview and history The fellowship was established in 1958 by an anonymous group of citizens of Dunedin, including notably Charles Brasch and his cousins the de Beers. Its purpose is "to encourage and promote imaginative New Zealand literature, liberally interpreted to include writers of genres such as literary biography, autobiography and literary criticism". It marked 200 years since the birth of Robert Burns, and also the service provided by the Burns family to the development of the Otago region, including Thomas Burns who was a nephew of the poet. It was the first literary fellowship in New Zealand. Michael King, who received the fellowship in 1998, said at the time: "If the Burns Fellowship did not exist, New Zealand literature might be a decade or so behind the place where it is now. Some things simply wouldn't have been written." As an example, he noted that Janet Frame, one of New Zealand's best-known authors, was only able to stay in New Zealand and continue to write because of the resources provided by the fellowship. The fellowship is based at the University of Otago. It provides a stipend to recipients for between six months to a year, as well as an office on campus. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the fellowship, a collection titled Nurse to the Imagination: Fifty years of the Robert Burns Fellowship was launched in October 2008, along with commemorations to coincide with Dunedin's 2008 Arts Festival. Robert Burns Fellows The writers to have held the fellowship are listed below: 1959 Ian Cross 1960 Maurice Duggan 1961 John Caselberg 1962 R. A. K. Mason 1963 Maurice Shadbolt 1964 Maurice Gee 1965 Janet Frame 1966–67 James K. Baxter 1968 Ruth Dallas 1969 Warren Dibble 1970 O. E. Middleton 1971 Noel Hilliard 1972 Ian Wedde 1973 Graham Billing 1974 Hone Tuwhare 1975 Witi Ihimaera 1976 Sam Hunt 1977 Keri Hulme 1977–78 Roger Hall 1978 Peter Olds 1979 Michael A. Noonan 1980 Philip Temple 1981–82 William Sewell 1983 Rawiri Paratene 1984 Brian Turner 1985–86 Cilla McQueen 1987 Robert Lord 1988 John Dickson 1989 Renée 1990 David Eggleton 1991