Greek trip inspires local writer

Pere Durie in Crete, where he was inspired to write his novel about the Maori Battalion. Photo/supplied

Inspiration from an overseas college trip has gained one local teacheraspot in a national Maori writing mentoring programme. Papamoa's Pere Durie, a media studies teacher and the Maori achievement mentor at Tauranga Boys' College, is one of six people from across New Zealand selected for the Te Papa Tupu programme.

Pere will write a novel about a young boy on the East Coast who was meant to go to boarding school, but decides to join the Maori Battalion after the Battle of Crete breaks out.

Pere has always been interested in stories about the Maori Battalion, but says inspiration also came from the boys he teaches and a tour of Greece and Italy they went on last year.

"The tour seemed to be a real game-changer for the boys, in terms of their own understanding of their tupuna and their own morality and place in the world as well."

They visited villages, battlefields and cemeteries where the 28th Maori Battalion legacy is present in Crete which is the main location in the novel.

"It started out as an idea for a feature film screenplay and it just sort of turned into an idea for a novel instead."

He says the tour "provided further food for thought" and something the teenage boys enjoy.

"I hope it isaway to give respect to those young men who went away to war 70-odd years ago and do their story justice," he says.

In the novel, the character goes away for the sense of adventure, and to travel as a group, which he said was similar to the boys' college trip.

Te Papa Tupu is a Maori Literature Trust initiative which identifies and develops Maori writers. The successful writers will work with mentors for six months to develop and refine their writing abilities, by the end of the programme they should have a finished manuscript that can be submitted for potential publication.

This is the fourth year the programme has been run, with support from Huia Publishers and Creative NZ, and judge Whiti Hereaka says the quality of the submissions this year was high.

"Many of the chosen writers impressed me with their ability to build fictional worlds and tell stories from viewpoints that are seldom told."

Pere is looking forward to learning how to write and craft a novel, as well as embracing the style of story writing.

He says he has never written a novel before, only film scripts. "The good thing with a novel is you only need one person to write it."

Pere heads to Wellington this week where he will meet with his mentor for the first time.