1 September 2021

Jade Kake (Ngāpuhi,Te Whakatōhea,Te Arawa) has been awarded the 2021 Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) and New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ) inc, $25,000 Writers’ Award for her project on the legacy of Professor Rewi Thompson (1953-2017; Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Raukawa).

Working with Jeremy Hansen, Jade's book will focus in on some of Professor Thompson's most memorable projects, from his own home in Kohimarama to the Anawhata studio he designed for world-renowned artist Katharina Grosse.

"Professor Thompson applied Māori design principles to prisons and social housing projects such as an urban papakāinga at Wiri in the belief that architecture could return a sense of well-being and belonging to people estranged by colonialism. Thompson believed architecture could heal the wairua and mauri of people broken by their circumstances, and created designs for the Mason Clinic, a forensic psychiatric facility, and Ngawha Prison in order to try and prove this," says Jade.

The CLNZ / NZSA Writers’ Award is one of the investments made through the CLNZ Cultural Fund and is open to writers of any genre of non-fiction, including writers of education material. The award enables the successful applicant to devote time to a specific writing project.

Selection panel members commented that Jade's application stood out among a very strong field. Gigi Fenster said its "breadth of vision and insight that takes the project beyond a narrow look at Thompson’s work and into a more wide-ranging look at Māori architecture, art, and education."

Vincent O’Malley agreed, saying "this exciting and timely project also promises to shed light on Māori contributions to the creative sector more broadly."

Diana Wichtel said that the "quality of the applications made them a delight to read and a real challenge to judge," but that Jade's proposal stood out as immediately engaging.

Jade was an emerging Māori writer-in-residence at the Michael King Writer’s Centre in 2019, and in 2020-21 she was a participant in the Te Papa Tupu Māori writer development programme. She is a two-time winner of the Warren Trust Awards for Architectural Writing (2018 and 2019) and is a judge for the competition in 2021. Her first book, Rebuilding the Kāinga: Lessons from Te Ao Hurihuri was published by Bridget Williams Books in 2019, and the manuscript for a novel developed through the Te Papa Tupu programme is currently being assessed by Huia Publishers.

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3 September 2021

2021 CLNZ/NZSA $5,000 Research Grants announced, supporting four New Zealand writers

The 2021 Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) and New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ) inc Research Grants have been awarded to four New Zealand writers.

"The applications covered a huge range of topics, from local history through to lifestyle, from literary novels to genre fiction. Many proposals addressed topics of special importance to Aotearoa whilst others addressed issues of international scale and perspective. Perhaps reflecting our times, there were many proposals with a science lens, especially on ecology and the environment. We wanted to support so many more than we could have."

And the winners are:

Lauren Keenan (Te Ātiawa ki Taranaki)
For her project Rākau: The Lost Tree

Anthony Green
For his project Hurt, Hope, and Healing

Lillian Duval
For her project Six-legged Ghosts: Stories of the Insects of Aotearoa

Bonnie Maihi
For her project The Brilliance of Resilience - Hope for a generation

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