After a year of gloom about writing in New Zealand — including funding controversies, postponement or cancellation of literary festivals; and new books launched in lockdown — some good news glimmers. The newly formed Crystal Arts Trust has been created to support emerging writers, musicians and visual artists. Founded by novelist Rosetta Allan and her husband James, its board includes AUT pro vice-chancellor Gayle Morris and me, in my capacity as director of the Master of Creative Writing programme at the University of Auckland and founder of the upcoming online Māori literature hub, Wharerangi.
One of the Crystal Arts Trust's first acts was to step into a sponsorship breach at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. From 2022, it will support the prizes for best first books — $2500 for each of the four category winners.
The impetus for this, in part, is personal. In 2016 Rosetta Allan received a Creative NZ grant for a residency in St Petersburg, at the Museum of Nonconformist Art, to research her second novel. The Unreliable People — Stalin's name for the exiled Koryo-saram who were seen as neither Russian, Korean or Kazakh — was published by Penguin in 2019.
"I experienced first-hand," James Allan says, "how receiving financial support to develop a creative career provides a sense of validation, encouragement, and empowerment to keep pushing forward. From that moment, I had a desire to make a long-lasting contribution to the arts in Aotearoa New Zealand. That time has finally arrived."
"It was a total thrill to be in contact with this new, philanthropic arts-focused trust," says Nicola Legat, chairperson of the NZ Book Awards Trust. "Books are the enduring achievers of our national culture. They really punch above their weight in telling our stories. Sponsoring one of the national book awards, and attaching your name to it, is one of the most meaningful ways you can make a difference to a writer's career and help sustain New Zealand literature."