Applications open for writing grants

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The New Zealand Society of Authors is offering research grants to support writers around the country to research for fiction or non-fiction writing projects, and applications are open now.

Four grants of $5000 each are available, and one of them targets diverse writers and topics, including writers from, and writing about, parts of Aotearoa that are not represented in writing and publishing, and projects on issues or subjects that are topical in present-day Aotearoa.

The grants are part of the CLNZ Cultural Fund and come from Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) and the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc).

Last year, Lauren Keenan (Te Ātiawa ki Taranaki) was a grant recipient for her project Rākau: The Lost Tree.

“This grant enabled me to spend more time visiting the historical sites I write about in my book and do high quality research,” she said.

“This has, in turn, greatly enriched my manuscript.”

Rākau: The Lost Tree is a middle-grade novel about the New Zealand wars, and will be the sequel to Lauren's recently-released children's book Amorangi and Millie's Trip Through Time, about Taranaki's history.

Also in 2021, Bonnie Maihi received a grant for her project The Brilliance of Resilience — Hope for a generation. Bonnie's project was inspired by her doctoral thesis, which focused on education and occupation pathways for rangatahi growing up in gang spaces in Aotearoa.

“Receiving this funding allowed me to bring together those who will be involved and to begin the mapping of this mahi. For this I am very grateful,” she said.

A wide range of fiction and non-fiction writing projects are eligible for these grants, but some works and projects are excluded, so please read the guidelines carefully.

For more information go to https://tinyurl.com/2p8zvc5w