Dunedin set to welcome Durban poet for the 2025 Caselberg Trust Margaret Egan Cities of Literature Writers Residency

By Ōtepoti He Puna Auaha | Dunedin UNESCO City Of Literature | Posted: Friday May 16, 2025

Warmest congratulations to Sihle Ntuli, poet, editor and classicist from Durban UNESCO City of Literature!

Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature and the Caselberg Trust are delighted to announce the judges’ selection of Sihle Ntuli from Durban (South Africa) as Caselberg Trust Margaret Egan Cities of Literature Writers Resident 2025.

Sihle is a poet, editor and classicist from Durban UNESCO City of Literature. He recently won the Diann Blakely National Poetry Competition, was awarded the Rajat Neogy Editorial Fellowship by A Long House, and won the 2024 Patricia Kailis Fellowship (Centre for Stories, Australia).

He is the author of several acclaimed works, including Owele (uHlanga, July 2025), Zabalaza Republic (Botsotso, 2023), The Nation (River Glass Books, 2023), Rumblin (uHlanga, 2020), and Stranger (Aerial, 2015). His poetry has appeared in leading international journals, and he previously held editorial roles at Wild Pine Poetry and New Contrast.

 

During the Residency, Sihle will continue working towards his fourth full-length collection of poetry Blues for King Kong, a multilingual fusion of Afro-Jazz and Blues-inspired lyric poetry. He says,

“I am looking forward to exchanging cultures and having rich dialogue with the Dunedin community.”

Established in 2023, the Residency is a partnership between the Caselberg Trust and Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature. It is made possible by funding from the Caselberg Trust, thanks to a generous bequest from the late Margaret Egan.

The Residency offers writers the opportunity to work on a substantial piece of creative writing while also fostering connections among writers, readers, and the community. The Residency is offered annually for a period of six weeks. In alternate years, it invites applications from writers based in other UNESCO Cities of Literature, and writers from Ōtepoti and Aotearoa only. This year, writers from UNESCO Cities of Literature around the world were invited to apply.

 

The external judging panel was thrilled by the quality of the 79 applications received this year, representing 28 Cities of Literature across the globe. Sihle’s submission stood out in a highly competitive field of talented writers working across a range of genres. His selection means he will live and write at Caselberg House in Whakaohorahi Broad Bay on Ōtepoti’s Otago Peninsula for six weeks, from October to mid-November 2025, timed to coincide with the Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival (17 to 19 October).

We’re thrilled to welcome Sihle Ntuli to Ōtepoti!

 

The Caselberg Trust is a Charitable Trust formed in 2006 to purchase the home of the late Anna and John Caselberg, to use it to host creative residencies of national and international standing, and to support and facilitate creative projects. John Caselberg was Burns Fellow at the University of Otago in 1961 and his writing included poetry, criticism, play writing, short stories, and essays. He is best known as a long-time friend of and collaborator with prominent Aotearoa New Zealand artist, Colin McCahon. Anna Caselberg was a significant Aotearoa New Zealand painter, and daughter of Sir Tosswill Woollaston.

 

Margaret Egan (1949-2020) was born in the UK and lived in Germany for many years, before retiring in Sheffield in 2014. She worked as an educator, a linguist and a traveller, but was passionate about all things creative – from the visual arts to literature, poetry and photography. She visited New Zealand on numerous occasions and was a good friend to the Caselberg Trust. Following her death in 2020, the Trust received notification Margaret had left a bequest to the Caselberg Trust, leading to the establishment of the Residency in her name.