Mentorship programme offers the next chapter for Māori writers

Four emerging Māori writers have received six months of mentorship from highly regarded Māori writers as part of the Ngā Kaituhi Māori mentorship programme.

Recipients were announced in May 2026, and all four are wāhine Māori with a variation of experience as writers.

They will be mentored by Dr Atakohu Middleton, Steph Matuku, Shelley Burn-Field and Emma Hislop.

Ngā Kaituhi Māori committee member Paula Morris (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Manuhiri) says she sees mentorship as an opportunity for up-and-coming writers to hone their craft by receiving personal attention and guidance.

“Writers with potential can flourish when they get personal support and attention, and when there is someone experienced to help them address the challenges of the work of art they're creating,” she says.

Applications for the emerging-writers programme were assessed by Ngā Kaituhi Māori committee members, Witi Ihimaera, Emma Hislop and Cassie Hart.

Part of the programme’s purpose is to see the recipients’ work evolve towards publishable manuscripts, and Morris says many Māori writers have published debut story collections in recent years.

“There is a tremendous appetite for Māori fiction, from readers and from publishers,” she says.

Budding author and programme recipient Kitty Moran (Waikato-Tainui) says her writing journey has been shaped through her reconnection with te ao Māori, and she has always aspired to have her own work published.

“Being a published author has been my lifelong dream and having a mentor and access to the resources of the programme are going to help support my writing journey.”

Programme recipient Renee Karena (Ngāpuhi, Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapoto) says the Ngā Kaituhi Māori mentorship programme will equip her to tell Māori stories from a Māori perspective, a kaupapa close to her heart.

“Māori have rangatiratanga over our stories, and it's for us to tell them.

“Throughout history, non-Māori have written about Māori and whenever a non-Māori does Māori story-telling, it is told through a non-Māori lens,” says Karena.

Author and mentorship recipient Marni Adlam (Ngāpuhi, Muriwhenua, Te Whakatōhea) says it is an honour to be picked by Māori writers who inspired her as a child and can see the potential in her kaupapa.

“I loved reading as a child, and I remember picking up Witi Ihimaera's books and holding them tightly with both hands because I was so excited to read Māori stories. It meant everything to me to be selected by him and other Māori writers.”

As the Māori whakataukī says, “Mā mua ka kite a muri, mā muri ka ora a mua.”

(Those who lead give sight to those who follow, those who follow give life to those who lead.)

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AI was used to help with research.