January 31, 2018
Te Papa Tupu opens doors for writers
The Maori Literature Trust and Huia Publishers are looking for six aspiring Maori writers for their Te Papa Tupu programme offering six months working alongside a mentor.
The aim is for them to improve their writing skills, develop a manuscript, and at the end have something they can publish.
The writers will receive financial support, attend workshops and a national writers festival.
Trust chair Robyn Bargh says it gives budding Maori writers the chance to focus on their writing.
Programme graduates include Jacquie McRae, whose first novel The Scent of Apples completed on Te Papa Tupu won a gold medal in the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards in New York.
Tihema Baker developed his debut novel Watched on the programme and Fred Te Maro’s Tutewehi was the first Maori language book to be published from Te Papa Tupu.
Applications are welcome before April 30 from Maori writers who live in Aotearoa and have a completed manuscript of a novel, short story, children's or non-fiction book in English or te reo Maori.
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