In 2020, historian and writer Dr Monty Soutar, received a Contestable Fund Grant towards his trilogy of epic novels, Kāwai, a series telling the story of pre-colonial Aotearoa and nine successive generations of one Māori family.
"I was so determined to see it written, that I returned to New Zealand, [and] gave up full-time employment … In 2020, I decided to apply to the CLNZ Contestable Fund for a grant to contribute towards the project.” – Dr Monty Soutar
In 2020, historian and writer Dr Monty Soutar, ONZM (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngāti Kahungunu) received a Contestable Fund Grant towards his trilogy of epic novels, Kāwai, a series telling the story of pre-colonial Aotearoa and nine successive generations of one Māori family.
In the days before the first book Kāwai: For Such a Time as This launched, Dr Soutar gave us his thoughts on his original decision to apply for CLNZ Contestable Funding and how the grant he received contributed to bringing his project to publication.
Why did you decide to apply?
In 2019, while overseas I had an epiphany. I became determined to write a book that would empower and educate readers about New Zealand’s past, from a Māori perspective.
During my career as an historian and in nearly forty-years researching Māori history, I have become very familiar with the last 300 years of New Zealand history and have had access to closely guarded tribal and whanau manuscripts. It’s a fascinating period, yet New Zealanders don’t know the rich stories and the detail of it. I felt that this story, spanning pre-colonial history, exploring the role colonisation has taken in shaping Aotearoa New Zealand, and telling stories from my own lineage, would have a greater reach, and impact, as a novel than as a work of non-fiction.
I was so determined to see it written that I returned to New Zealand, gave up full-time employment, and spent a year learning how to construct a novel, before launching into writing this first Kāwai book. In 2020, I decided to apply to the CLNZ Contestable Fund for a grant to contribute towards funding the project. One of the Contestable Fund criteria is around demonstrating a positive impact on the New Zealand writing and publishing industry and this aligned well with my own purpose in writing Kāwai and so, halfway through the first draft of my first book, I submitted an application.
If I had one piece of advice for anyone considering applying in 2022, it would be to go ahead and do it. If you’re not a recipient this time, apply for the next thing. Before receiving CLNZ Contestable Funding, I had applied without success for the CLNZ/NZSA Writers Award and a Research Grant. There will be variables each time you apply for any source of funding, including the other projects submitted, and the progress of your own work. If you don’t apply, you gain nothing, but if you do, you may gain the funding you need.
How did the grant help?
Writing, shaping and revising a work of fiction, and a trilogy in particular, is a long and time-consuming process. Receiving a Contestable Fund grant in 2020 contributed to my ability to dedicate the time required to this project. When I applied, I had written 40,000 words – half the length of the final first draft. Later, once I had a contract and was working with my publisher, I revised the novel in second and third drafts, rewriting and refining it to become the story readers will be able to find on bookshop and library shelves – the story of which Paula Morris the novelist, and one of the book’s final pre-publication readers, says, ‘the past feels close enough to touch.’
Kāwai: For Such a Time as This launched on 5 September this year. It’s the first of three books and so, the writing, shaping and revising process continues.
The Contestable Fund is open for 2022. This year a total of $75,000 is available for strategic projects that demonstrate publishing sector growth. Read more here.