Writers in Youth Justice

Youth Justice facilities are home to some of the most vulnerable young people in Aotearoa.

Our work with youth justice residences began back in 2017 when we delivered a creative writing workshop to the young people at Te Maioha o Parekarangi (Rotorua) with Tommy Kapai.

When I go home was published in 2018 and was gifted to the young people.

In 2019 we had the opportunity to further our work in youth justice residences through funding from Creative New Zealand’s Toi Rangatahi Engagement Fund.

Two beautiful pieces of finished work were published as part of this project. The first was a boxed set of posters which was developed from the work by eight rangatahi who were based at Korowai Manaaki (Manukau) in October 2019. Their mentor was teacher and children’s non-fiction author David Riley.

The second piece of work is the project outlined below: How did I get here?

In both cases the works contain precious glimpses of voices which have never been published before.

In March 2021 Ben Brown visited with the YPs of Te Au Rere a te Tonga, an Oranga Tamariki youth justice residence on the outskirts of Palmerston North. The resulting work Pushdogs was published for the YPs and their families.

Read NZ Te Pou Muramura is grateful for the continued support of Creative New Zealand, Oranga Tamariki and Arts Access Aotearoa for these projects.

The most recent phase of our Writers in Youth Justice programme began in the summer of 2020 with a box of biros, a pack of printer paper and a question to 28 YPs - young people - living Te Puna Wai o Tūhinapō, the Oranga Tamariki youth justice residence next door to Rolleston Prison, south-west of Christchurch.

Ben Brown, Te Awhi Rito Reading Ambassador and writer, asked them, ‘How did you get here?’

Over four days of kōrero and collaboration, tautoko and awhi, young men from Te Puna Wai o Tūhinapō wrote their answers as poems, which have been collected in this book, with illustrations by two of the participants.

The book was published by The Cuba Press and Ben Brown’s 2020 Pānui, If nobody listens then no-one will know, described the project.