Jacquie McRae (Tainui and Ngāti Koata) is working on a project that is a fictional novel based on facts about the colourful history of the campaigns for the prohibition of alcohol in New Zealand, and the resulting illicit trade of home brewed whisky.
Jacquie says, ‘I have chosen to transport the reader back to this time, using the techniques of fiction writing in the hope of bringing the past alive. The residency will allow me uninterrupted time to do the necessary research and writing. By employing fiction, I believe this project will take a part of New Zealand history that is not well known, and make it accessible to a wide audience’.
Jacquie holds the seventh residency for the year.