The Storyteller’s Challenge: Making the Pre-Colonial and Colonial Past Resonate Today

Māori historian and former Waitangi Tribunal member Dr Monty Soutar has spent his career finding ways to make history accessible beyond academic circles.

While known for his detailed non-fiction works—such as Whītiki Whiti Whiti E! Māori in the First World War and Ngā Tama Toa: The Price of Citizenship—he recognised that traditional academic writing did not always connect with a broader audience. To bridge this gap, Dr Soutar turned to historical fiction.

Seeking to engage younger generations accustomed to visual storytelling, he developed the Kāwai trilogy to move at the pace of a film, translating archival research into an accessible narrative. Grounded in deep research, the books blend archival sources and oral traditions with imagined dialogue to bring pre-colonial Aotearoa to life. This approach to sharing history found a wide readership. The first book, Kāwai: For Such A Time As This, became a national bestseller, as did the sequel, Kāwai: Tree of Nourishment, which further explored these historical themes for contemporary New Zealand readers. Currently working on his third book, Dr Soutar will share why he switched from non-fiction to stories. He will talk about decolonising history, the power of storytelling, and using his intuition to bring the past alive for a wider audience.

About the speaker

Dr Monty Soutar ONZM has been a teacher, a soldier, a historian, and academic. He has worked for government, museums and iwi runanga. He has a research background that spans almost forty years, in which time he has had access to closely guarded tribal and family manuscripts. In 2015 he was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori and historical research. He is currently concluding his remaining panel inquiries for the Waitangi Tribunal.

Dr Soutar is the author of such books as Whītiki Whiti Whiti E! Māori in the First World War and Ngā Tama Toa: The Price of Citizenship: C Company 28 (Māori Battalion 1939–1945). Whītiki is a major publication about Maori participation in the First World War and the award-winning Nga Tama Toa focussed on Maori participation in the Second World War.

In 2021 he was awarded the Creative New Zealand Michael King Writer’s Fellowship to write the Kāwai series. He has published two books in the series. For Such a Time as This, was published in 2022 and Tree of Nourishment was released in 2024. Both novels went straight to number one on the New Zealand Fiction bestsellers list. He is presently working on the third book in the series, Scent of Water.

Livestream

The livestream link will be added closer to the date.