2023 ARA Historical Novel Prize Longlists Announced
September 13, 2023
Merinda Dutton in conversation with Claire G. Coleman & Dr. Monty Soutar
22 October 2023 | 11:30 am - 12:25 pm
Dr. Monty Soutar’s Kawai: For Such A Time As This reveals a picture of pre-colonial Aotearoa. Claire G Coleman’s Terra Nullius and The Old Lie are dystopian allegories steeped in knowlege of the traumatic aftermath of colonisation. Merinda Dutton discusses how these authors researched histories stemming from both oral storytelling and written sources. Further, what themes do they think most resonated with readers?
About Dr. Monty Soutar
Dr Soutar is a historian and author of non-fiction publications about Maori participation in the world wars. He has appeared in several documentaries about war which have screened on New Zealand television. In 2003 he was appointed by the NZ Government to the Waitangi Tribunal and is one of its longest serving members. In the 2015 New Year Honours, he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori and historical research. In 2021 he was awarded the Creative New Zealand Michael King Writer’s Fellowship to write the Kāwai series – a trilogy which tells the history of New Zealand through nine successive generations of a Maori family. His debut novel went straight to number one and was the bestselling NZ novel of 2022. It was shortlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
About Claire G. Coleman
Claire G. Coleman is a Wirlomin Noongar woman whose ancestral country is on the south coast of Western Australia. Born in Perth she has spent most of her life in Naarm. She writes fiction, non-fiction and verse and has been published in many publications. Her debut novel Terra Nullius was published by Hachette in Australia and Small Beer in the US. The Old Lie (Hachette 2019) is her second novel. Lies Damned Lies: A Personal Exploration of the Impact of Colonisation, her first nonfiction book, was published in September 2021 by Ultimo Press. Enclave (Hachette 2022) is her third novel.
About Merinda Dutton
Merinda is a Barkandji and Gumbaynggirr woman, lawyer and am co-founder of the Instagram handle @blackfulla_bookclub. She has variously written non-fiction pieces and been published by Griffith Review, Sydney Review of Books, and the Guardian.
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