Ngā Kaituhi Māori and NZ Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa mentorship recipients announced

Ngā Kaituhi Māori and the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (NZSA) have announced the recipients of the 2026 NZSA Ngā Kaituhi Māori Mentorship program, and Kupu Kaitiaki manuscript assessment program.

The recipients of the NZSA Ngā Kaituhi Māori Mentorship and their mentors are:

• Marni Adlam (Muriwhenua/Ngāpuhi/Te Whakatōhea), mentored by Steph Makutu, working on Adlam’s debut YA fantasy novel Children of Myth and Men
• Renee Karena, mentored by Atakohu Middleton, working on Karena’s biography of her grandmother
• Kitty Moran (Waikato-Tainui), mentored by Shelley Burne-Field
• Rosemary Putaranui, mentored by Emma Hislop.

The recipients receive “a six-month opportunity to work closely with an acclaimed Māori writer as their mentor to hone their tuhituhi ability and, in the process, evolve and refine a work toward a publishable manuscript”.

The two recipients of the Kupu Kaitiaki manuscript assessment program are:

• Therese Cargo (Kai Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Pākehā), who will work on a young adult historical fiction novel
• Kerry Lee Marsden (Ngāti Kāhu, Te Rarawa, Ngāi Takoto), who will work on “Wild Beautiful Things”, the first part of a novella trilogy in the children/young adult fantasy sci fi genre.

Category: Local news