A New Zealander in Europe. Writing about motherhood and identity; captivated by trees and seasons; reading voraciously. Published in Takahe, World Literature Today and Kapohau / Turbine. Get in touch on Instagram, Twitter or Goodreads.

Michaela Anchan
 
 
 
 
View fullsize Two days and a night down in beautiful Jena and Weimar, following the stories from Andrea Wulf’s great book about the figures of the Romantic period there. A great trip trip with perfect, summery weather. Goethe’s house, Schillers house,
View fullsize Eastbound, by Maylis de Kerangal Read this beautiful slip of a novel over two short flights today. It’s been on my to-read list since rave reviews last year and I’m so glad I finally got to it - and a travel day was the perfect setting f
View fullsize A quick few days in Berlin again this week and I could resist a revisit to this incredible exhibition at @kraftwerkberlinofficial . A sound and light total sensory experience- I could have stayed for hours. So creative and mesmerising and absolutely
View fullsize Progress.. am trying my best to speed up the crawl to the end of draft 1. Keep focusing on ‘shitty first draft’ and ‘just get it done’.. but by god it’s easy to get lost in research wormholes. These little Post Its remin
View fullsize After the cemetary I mooched on over to @abatonkino to see this excellent doco. Beautifully told - what a gift to have so much old footage and audio and letters from her life. A story of a family, of creativity, mental health, the music industry, act
View fullsize Went on a side quest today.. a little research walk to my favourite cemetery, AKA the 4th largest cemetery in the world AKA Ohlsdorf Cemetary- just a few stops north on the local train. We are still deep in winter, with just the first glimmer of buds
View fullsize Absolutely adored this. Has been in my TBR list for a while and after a recommendation from @fixedgeometries I pushed it straight to the top. The audiobook is beautifully narrated, I was lost for hours in the voice of the character of Valeria. She i
View fullsize Went to a lovely event at @felixjud.bookstore tonight in celebration of Virginia Woolf’s birthday, and couldn’t resist this treasure of a book. The full edition of Mrs. Dalloway, along with notes, maps, illustrations, photos, and commenta
View fullsize In my happy place again.. my favourite Airbnb in Berlin for the week, doing lots of writing, reading and editing, walking the streets and eating alone while giggling at podcasts. The Annie Lord and Bea Setton books are helping me remember what life i
View fullsize A fantastic week in moody Tromsø at the top of the world. Spectacular. Homeward travel day turned epic with a three-flights to get home turned into five flight (Tromsø-Oslo-Copenhagen-Stockholm-Hamburg) after a cancellation mid journey.
View fullsize A quiet long distance train to write, read, listen and think is 1000% my happy place. On the way home from a quick trip to Berlin to see the brilliant and very funny Tig Notaro.
View fullsize A lovely evening last night, reading for the #Sprachlos reading series, organised by @unopenedtulips and sponsored by @writers_room_hamburg alongside the gorgeous work of @isa_ziegler_izzi. Wonderful to read alongside @random.hamburg, @juliaditschke
View fullsize Twenty pages from finishing this and instead of racing to the end I’m picking it up and savouring a few pages then putting it down again. I don’t want it to end. Oh Anne Enright. The problem is, as a writer reading these beautiful books o
View fullsize Started this book months ago then it sat next to my bed while a bunch of other books crowded in and grabbed my attention. Now I’m back into it.. and devouring it. It’s better than her latest (I have Some Questions For You) I think- more n
View fullsize I've long been an admire of the essays featured on @offassignment and am absolutely thrilled to have a short piece in their Witching Hour column! I wrote it during my short stay in windy Sankt Peter Ording in March this year. Thanks for @aubenoisette
View fullsize What a perfect spot- looking out over monsoon backwaters, spotting birds, butterflies, and insects and listening to the damp breeze flapping over the water- to read this beautiful collection. Nature and self so perfectly twined together and I think t
View fullsize I’m in cool but summery Hamburg, packing my suitcase for a hot, monsoony India vacation but the whole day I’ve been on the wild open seas chasing arctic terns, thanks to this engrossing audiobook. Ticking all my boxes of moody, strong fem
View fullsize Absolute stunner of a last day. Made my three final sculptural works today and tonight we will have a group exhibition along with the gorgeous local wine and food we have been spoilt with all week. Definitely a week to remember.
View fullsize Today was a play day - working with techniques we have learnt, mixing media and form. What absolute bliss to have time for this ❤️
View fullsize Day 2: learning techniques, gorgeous views, pavlova for dessert, waiting for the super moon to rise over the Pyrenees.