Cultural Fund Selection Panel

5 December 2024

E ai ki te whakataukī:

Paiheretia ngā wawata
Paiheretia ngā kōrero
Paiheretia ngā tāngata
Paiheretia ki te rangimarie

According to this proverb:

Bring together the aspirations
Bring together the stories
Bring together the people
Bring all together - in peace.

A mokopuna of the iwi of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa ki Kawerau, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Pikiao and Ngāti Awa, K.M Harris is a kai-tuhi Māori whose writing journey began in 2013 in Sydney, Australia. In 2019, she was awarded the Published Writer in English prize at the Pikihuia Awards Māori Writers that included a membership to join the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (NZSA). A year later, K.M Harris was humbled to serve in the inaugural NZSA Te Ao Māori Representative role on the NZSA Board, which is now named the Te Māngai Māori ki te Poari.

K.M Harris brings the teachings and knowledge of her whānau and tūpuna along with her experience in the public service where her mahi has contributed to improving equitable outcomes for Māori. In 2023, she completed the Poutuarongo Ahunga Tikanga at Te Wānanga o Raukawa (Bachelor of Māori Laws and Philosophy) and is now studying the Masters of Public Policy through Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland. Once this is done, she will write the taonga stories and whānau histories she longs to do.

Abby Aitcheson has held various editorial roles at independent publishers and Penguin Random House imprints in Aotearoa and London. She has also worked as a freelance editor and as a bookseller for Time Out Books. She now finds herself working as a legal editor in Tokyo, but will always think of Tairāwhiti as home. 2021 was the first year that Abby has been a selection panel member.

Craig Gamble is a Wellington-based writer. He edited Middle Distance, Long Stories of Aotearoa New Zealand and his MA thesis The Watch List won the Adam Foundation Prize in 2014. He works as Publishing Manager at Te Herenga Waka University Press.