Māori poet and photographer Trinity Thompson-Browne wins 2023 Māori and Pacific Publishing Scholarship

The scholarship offers funding for a Māori or Pacific student to study the Graduate Diploma in Publishing at Whitireia. It also includes hands-on experience twice a year at Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading publishing house, Penguin Random House.

The PRH NZ Māori and Pacific scholarship was created in 2020 to reduce barriers to equity, and encourage diversity and inclusivity in publishing in Aotearoa.

Thompson-Browne (Ngāti Kahungunu, Muaūpoko), is a well-known poet and photographer working with Māori organisations, whānau Māori, toi Māori and tāmoko practitioners.

Last year, Thompson-Browne, alongside fellow writer and poet Rangimarie Sophie Jolley, co-curated events on behalf of Te Hā o Ngā Kaituhi Māori in Verb Readers & Writers Festival 2022. Before this, they worked at Ariki Creative, where they edited the English version of the creative studio’s book, The Story of Waihiko, which aims to give tamariki Māori a way to understand technology from a te ao Māori perspective.

Thompson-Browne is a finalist for the biennial Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award 2023 for their poem – searching for haana hirini, a poem about finding the names in your whakapapa lines even when those lines have been fractured by colonisation. Their upcoming debut, three-volume, bilingual box collection of poetry i am navigator will be released on July 14th at the rising of Matariki this year.

They work part time managing Ihorei Gallery, a small, whānau Māori-run gallery that recently coordinated two widescale national art auctions and raised over $73,000 for whānau affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. They were also prominent in the local media after playing a key role in the banning of conversion therapy in Aotearoa during 2021 and 2022, sharing their story with Re: News and speaking at parliament.

Thompson-Browne says this scholarship will help them to support other Māori writers and their aspirations for story sovereignty, as well as continuing to explore different ways to self-publish at and above industry standard, where all the hands Māori stories pass through are also Māori, from inception to print.

“To be in a position where I can actively stress-test my self-publishing knowledge base, week in, week out, against industry practice is incredibly invigorating. I am so thankful to be in this course and to be chosen for this scholarship. Serving my communities with the knowledge and skills learnt from this course is something I am really looking forward to. I cannot recommend this course, and this scholarship, enough. It is nothing short of life changing.”

Head of Publishing at PRH Claire Murdoch says:

“Trinity blew me away in our interview with their insights, curiosity and intelligence. The contribution they will make to our industry is already unmistakable. We are delighted to enable Trinity to sharpen their already impressive publishing instincts and gain new skills at Whitireia.”  

Senior publishing tutor at Whitireia Odessa Owens says:

“Trinity’s demonstrated commitment to story sovereignty and empowering Māori writers and publishers makes them an invaluable part of the Whitireia Publishing class of 2023. We’re thrilled to support Trinity in their journey with this scholarship.”

More info here: Penguin Random House Māori and Pacific Publishing Scholarship