13 July 2020

The Mātātuhi Foundation announces funding for four initiatives from writers, editors and organisations that will enhance or develop the literary landscape of New Zealand.

• Landing Press NZ Grant: To engage and inspire first-time writers, through poetry workshops and individual mentoring, to give voice to their first-hand experience of social housing.  A selection of the work will be published as an anthology.

• Read NZ Grant: To develop an accessible, attractive and curated list of select Aotearoa NZ text with accompanying teaching resources, to boost the teaching of NZ literature in NZ schools.

• Verb Wellington Grant: To honour and raise the profile of the work of women writers from Aotearoa's past via the development of a series of bespoke literary cards.

• Creative Bay of Plenty Grant: To support the creation, publication and distribution of New Zealand poetry in regional Aotearoa via a collaboration with pharmacies.

This is the sixth funding round for the Foundation, established by the Auckland Writers Festival in 2018. Its aim is to support the literary community with seed funding of up to $5000 for new literature-related initiatives.

Mātātuhi Foundation trustee Paula Morris was impressed with the scope and ambition of many expressions of interest.

“These are imaginative projects designed to promote writers and reach readers. A number of them also offer the opportunity to develop and we’re now looking at ways to support select initiatives through multiple phases of activity, rather than just one-off funding, so as to realise their full potential.”

Up to ten grants are available each year across two funding rounds (May and October).  Submissions must be made online at http://www.matatuhifoundation.co.nz/

Grants to date have supported workshops, websites, podcasts, digital content, mentoring and community projects, including the mentoring of youth and emerging writers, creating an online bibliography of books available in te reo, and projects that celebrate and preserve our literary history.