Kōrero: Arts education and training

Writers Christine Cole (later Cole Catley) and Frank Sargeson admire the tomato plants in Sargeson's garden in Takapuna, Auckland, around 1950. Sargeson had a number of friendships with younger writers; his protégés included Janet Frame, who lived in an army hut on his section in 1955 and 1956 while writing her first novel, Owls do cry. Cole, a journalist and publisher for many years, also acted as a mentor to younger writers. Creative writing was not generally formally taught in New Zealand until the 1970s, but in earlier times writers often gathered together informally, sometimes around a mentor such as Sargeson or Cole. In the 2000s, as well as attending courses, writers continued to group together in more or less formal ways, with some forming writers' groups that lasted for decades.