Four grants awarded to support local writers' research

Pictured (from left to right) grant recipients: Dr Lori Leigh, Kate Parker, Kerry Sunderland, Steph Matuku.

The recipients of this year's Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) and New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa PEN NZ Inc (NZSA) Research Grants have been announced.

The $5,000 grants support local writers who wish to undertake research for a fiction or non-fiction writing project. The selection panel, Siobhan Harvey, Vasanti Unka and Vaughan Rapatahana said, "As Judges, we’re aware of the significant contribution the research grants make to the selected writers’ project and publishing success. It’s encouraging and inspiring to receive 85 applications for our consideration this year. We encourage writers from across Aotearoa to continue to apply in such healthy numbers for future grants."

The 2024 CLNZ | NZSA Research Grant recipients are:

Lori Leigh with project "Homo Sweet Homo”: The History of New Zealand’s Queer Homes

Dr. Lori Leigh (she/they) is an award-winning queer writer and researcher based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. They have published with Palgrave MacMillan, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Routledge. Lori’s writing has also appeared in local lifestyle magazines such as Capital, and recently, she published in Otherhood (Massey University Press). Lori’s project ‘Homo Sweet Homo’: The History of New Zealand’s Queer Homes – aims to explore the vibrant and diverse landscape of queerness and home making in Aotearoa New Zealand. The 2024 Selection panel said, “this project's '...planned multifaceted approach, drawing from historical records, personal narratives, and cultural analysis to illuminate the nuanced and never-before told experiences of LGBTTFIQ+ couples and communities in shaping their homes and identities, we found compelling.”

Kate Parker with three picture book projects, Tohu from Aotea, Korōra Blue and Kōpu and the Sea Thieves

Kate Parker is an author/illustrator and paper-cut artist based in West Auckland. Her project aims to research and develop three picture books highlighting some of Aotearoa’s special creatures and their challenges: The Tākoketai (Northern Black Petrel) from Aotea Island and their travel to and return from the waters of Ecuador - a story of navigation and an inner knowing. The Korōra (Little Blue Penguin) and their challenge in the summer heatwaves and overfishing that have caused their baitfish to disappear and starvation to occur resulting in many breeding pairs abandoning their chicks - focusing on what we can do to help. The Kōputōtara (NZ Porcupine Fish) and the story of the sea thieves, highlighting the effects created by humans stealing from the ocean, including the sand itself. Kōpu stands up for the sea and finds ways to deal with the strong emotions causing her to change shape. The selection panel said “...the foci of this research upon bringing together a compilation of stories for younger readers about Aotearoa’s Tākoketai, Korōra and Kōputōtara. Spotlighting native species, informed by mātauranga Māori and contemporary environmental concerns, we felt this project is thoroughly deserving of funding support.”

The selection panel said “...the foci of this research upon bringing together a compilation of stories for younger readers about Aotearoa’s Tākoketai, Korōra and Kōputōtara. Spotlighting native species, informed by mātauranga Māori and contemporary environmental concerns, we felt this project is thoroughly deserving of funding support."

Steph Matuku with book project The Blue Dawn

Steph Matuku is a writer from New Plymouth. She writes for the screen, and has written several books for young people, all published by Huia Publishers. Her new project, The Blue Dawn, is an adult novel set in early 19th century New Zealand, when the whaling industry was at its peak. Māori mythology and tradition collide with capitalism and brutal progress, as a grieving fugitive hunts the giant octopus that will lead her to her ancestors’ homeland. The CLNZ | NZSA Research Grant will help Steph learn more about the whaling industry of the 19th century, and people and places of significance.

The judges said, "We loved this proposal for a historical novel about the whaling industry set in 1820s Aotearoa, funding the research trip to Kororāreka will prove instrumental to greenlighting a fascinating project by an established author who provided strong publisher support.”

Kerry Sunderland with book project Deathwalker’s Guide to Life: how exploring death can help you live life more fully.

Kerry Sunderland is a freelance journalist, author and curator of the the Nelson Arts Festival's literary programme, Pukapuka Talks. Her essays have been published in Otherhood: Essays on being childfree, childless and child adjacent (MUP, 2024), A Liminal Gathering (Elixir & Star Press, 2023) and Headlands: New Stories of Anxiety (THWUP, 2018). Her journalism has appeared in New Zealand Geographic, NZ Listener, North & South, The Spinoff, Stuff/Nelson Mail, Wild Tomato, as well as the Byron Echo, Inside Film, and Metro Magazine in Australia.

The judges said “Deathwalker’s Guide to Life: how exploring death can help you live life more fully – this research will progress a work which is part memoir, part personal essay and part people profiles, and ultimately a meditation upon the joy of living. The author has a solid track record of navigating her thematic space and provided strong publisher interest."