Deadline: 30-Sep-2025
The Creative New Zealand and the Ministry for Pacific Peoples have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to co-deliver Tala: Sharing Pacific Stories – a new initiative supporting Pacific creatives to write and to be published in Pacific languages.
This special opportunity will support eight unpublished Pacific poets to contribute to the upcoming publication, The Ocean Remembers, a collection of poetry designed to celebrate and revitalise Pacific languages through literature. The publication directly delivers to the Moana priority action of the Pacific Arts Strategy 2023-2028 and activating the Pacific arts response to the threat of climate change in the Pacific Islands and Aotearoa.
This also aligns with the skills development Vaka focus of the Pacific Arts Strategy as well Va, growing networks, relationships and audiences for Pasifika creatives. Poems in Urgent Revitalisation Pacific languages (te gagana Tokelau, vagahau Niue, te reo Māori Kūki ‘Airani) and Melanesian languages will be prioritised. Poems that link to the Pacific Arts Strategy Priority theme ‘The Ocean Remembers’ – poems honouring the ocean and land, weaving ancestral stewardship with the urgency of protecting our environment for future generations.
To apply, artists must be of Pacific Islands heritage, a New Zealand Citizen or Permanent Resident, and an unpublished literature artist. Applicants should be able to submit a complete poem in their heritage language alongside an English translation. Those who are in default of any Creative New Zealand funding are not eligible to apply.
Selected poets will receive a commission fee, publication in the 2026 edition of The Ocean Remembers, and public recognition through promotion of their work. They will also benefit from online support and practical insights into the publishing journey, guided by a leading Pacific publisher. While preference is given to poems originally written in Pacific languages, translations into heritage languages are also accepted, with all final translations reviewed by Pacific editors, language translators, and peer reviewers.
The selection process will be managed by the Creative New Zealand Pacific Arts Group, with assessors including a CNZ Pacific Arts Group representative, a Ministry for Pacific Peoples representative, a Pasifika author and publishing expert, and a Pasifika poet and language expert.
Applicants must include their full name and contact details, one original poem in their heritage language with English translation of up to 800 words, the story or background of the poem, a bio of up to 800 words, and a statement outlining writing experience and aspirations as a future author, also up to 800 words. Submissions close on 30 September 2025 at 1:00 pm NZT.
For more information, visit Creative NZ.