Help Catarina Study her Masters

Help Catarina Write Her Book This Year:

Kia ora,

Many of you may know me, but if not, my name is Catarina and am based in windy Wellington (NZ), where I moved to last year to pursue my dreams of becoming a New Zealand published writer.

We may be extremely close and you may still not be aware of my current situation; this is because I have been doing everything I can beyond possible to hide it from my loved ones, out of embarrassment. Out of humiliation.

It has given me overwhelming grief over the past weeks, a snowballing anxiety that should not be housed by the body and now - more often than not - I find myself crying to sleep and waking up in the middle of the night for more crying. And then more crying when I wake up. To say that I am stressed right now is an understatement. I am a wreck.

I was incredibly fortunate to be offered a place in the Masters of Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters, at the Victoria University of Wellington.

This year, I will be one of the lucky 25 students chosen from over 150-200 applications nationwide, to develop a book-length manuscript of personal essays and pay homage to my East Coast (Te Whanau A Apanui) whakapapa and the tuawahine of my life. It is a book that NZ needs.

I am currently short of $4,500 for my tuition fees and I will not be supported with a student loan this year.

My parents will be working part-time teaching and at a kiwifruit packing house this year so I do not want to ask for help. Working a minimum wage call centre job myself, this is something that I cannot afford. It is making me physically ill.

I'm at a tough and impossible place and I do not have any support. The doors are all shut.

This is where you can make a change.

How You Can Help:

Whatever you are able to contribute, however small, will go a really long way towards my Masters studies and will help me complete this incredible book.

If in the past I have gone to your comedy show, your poetry reading, launching event, your couch, or simply - if you love me, believe in my creative potential, or think that I'm a cool and funny bean, please donate.

It will mean so much to me in the making of this book.

Where it will go

Your support will assist towards the $8,192 total of tuition fees for my Masters of Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters, at the Victoria University of Wellington for 2019.

How Soon I will need the funds:

In the next two weeks.Tuition fees are due upon the course commencing (5th March). I am organising a little extra time with the University for direct payment.

Not Such An Unlucky Girl:

I have been awarded a Copyright Licensing New Zealand Masters of Creative Writing Scholarship to the value of $3,500, which I will be using towards my tuition fees of $8,192, which takes some of the pressure away.

The Book:

I plan to write a collection of essays about the tuawahine (heroines, principle female characters) across multiple generations of my whakapapa. Moving between Te Kaha, Opotiki and Whakatane, they cross the Bay of Plenty and move to other regions in NZ, and in my mother's case, all the way to Portugal.

It will consider issues such as the curse of beauty, decolonisation of the body, heartbreak, whakama and aroha.

Previous work:

http://turbinekapohau.org.nz/2018-contents-nonfict...

Thank you whanau and friends. <3