Author Fiona Farrell has been awarded a grant of $100,000 to write about the Christchurch earthquakes.
She won the Creative New Zealand Michael King Fellowship to write two books, one fiction and the other non-fiction, inspired by her own experiences.
Ms Farrell said the twin books, both titled The Villa at the Edge of the Empire, will begin with the reconstruction of a city after a disaster.
Since the February 2011 earthquake, she said she has felt like a photographer who has a compulsion to record history.
Ms Farrell will be the 11th recipient of the Michael King Fellowship since its establishment in 2003.
Previous winners include Owen Marshall, Vincent O'Sullivan, CK Stead and Kate De Goldi.
